For Essie

[lycanprofessor]

Washington Jones always held office hours over the holidays, even if most of his students were away. The fact that he had a full Thanksgiving dinner all weekend in his office usually helped draw in a few lone students who both needed additional help and also didn't have a family of their own they could or wanted to spend the holiday with. It was Wash's way of trying to provide a community, a pack, to his students.

He would have even been there working late except that tonight he had somewhere important to be; a date with Essie Wakewood. It wasn't an official sort of date, more just a meeting between two people over drinks. Not that he would have minded if it was more, Miss Wakewood was a fine looking young woman with a bit of fire in her, but it was just professional between them.

Tonight he at least had some exciting news to share with her. Potentially exciting news at least, if the letters that his friend from the university in New York were actually from her family. Washington hoped that they were, just because Miss Wakewood seemed so desperate to find something on the Wakewoods. Truth be told, Washtington was curious too now. It was hard for a wolf to give up a hunt once he was on it.

Pulling his motorcycle up to where they'd planned to meet he smoothed down his shirt before he headed inside. He was running just a bit late and hoped that she hadn't been waiting too long.

Comments

[wakingwakewood]

"Only if you're scared of witches. It's the eternal coin flip. Good witch? Bad witch? Little bit of both? Have a preference?" Taking a sip of her drink, she chuckled and raised her hand in surrender, realizing she had taken it somewhere she shouldn't. "Sorry, I didn't bring you here for..." Essie couldn't even think of the word she wanted to use. Flirt? Seduce? Tease? She realized she was blushing and covered her face for a moment. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Let me try that again, a little more professionally this time since this was supposed to be a business-like meeting. I asked you here, I'd like to pay for your drinks. Or I'm going to end up owing you favors."

[lycanprofessor]

"Oh, I definitely like at least a little bit of bad," he said, giving a low chuckle both at her question and her flush of embarrassment. Washington definitely didn't mind if she had brought him here for... whatever it was she was going to imply. Maybe he had come here for a little bit of that too. "And just because we didn't come here for that doesn't mean we can't change our minds."

Of course, if she wasn't comfortable with that it was fine as well. Washington didn't want to pressure her but he definitely wanted to let her know that he was interested.

"And alright, I'll let you buy me drinks so that we don't owe any favors."

[wakingwakewood]

Essie liked the idea of changing her mind. She only wished what she wanted to change it to, because that was the conundrum of the evening, wasn't it. However, for the time being, she shifted her focus a bit, running her finger along the rim of her glass and thanking the waiter as he brought Washington's wine.

"So, tabling my evil impulses for the moment. You mentioned you had something?"

[lycanprofessor]

"I do," said Washington with a nod, switching easily away from the flirting to the actual reason that they had come here. It felt like pushing Essie now was the easiest way to make her shut down from that sort of thing and looking at her in that sweater made him realize just how much he didn't want to shut that possibility down. Reaching into his jacket he brought out a folded up piece of paper and handed it to her.

"Since I wasn't having any luck I contacted to people who had held my position at the college before I had. One of them thought they remembered some old letters being sent to a museum in New York since there wasn't anything like that here at the time. I talked to a colleague there and they were able to track them down for me. They're being sent via special carrier but here's print out of one of the letters they had scanned. I thought maybe you could see if you recognized the handwriting so that we would know if we actually had something before they got here."

[wakingwakewood]

Taking the page, Essie looked it over. It was some kind of inventory, written as part of a letter. She couldn't make it all out, she wasn't great at reading old-timey handwriting, but it looked like it was a shipment of personal belongings being sent in anticipation of her family's exit from Siren Cove. The date was certainly right, and the handwriting looked vaguely familiar, like the oldest entries in the family grimoire.

"I'll have to take this home to really compare the handwriting, but the date matches when I was told the family left Siren Cove. Did he say anything about the rest of the letters?"

[lycanprofessor]

"She said it seemed to be letters back and forth between relatives. Normal stuff for the most part until at some part it talks about leaving the area," he explained, glad that it seemed to be useful or at least relevant information. It would have frustrated him if it were a bust so he could imagine how relieved Essie was.

"She offered to scan them all for me but I asked for the originals. I thought if nothing else you could do psychometry on them. If you want to keep them I'll help you state a claim."

[wakingwakewood]

"So long as there's nothing damaging, I'm happy letting the University keep them. I'm more curious than anything." Setting the letter aside, she tapped the table a bit restlessly.

"I came to the Cove because I have family here. I won't go into details, but it surprised me to find out I had blood that didn't want me dead or take my money. I always knew the family had lived here, way back when, but..." It was hard to describe, the growing feeling of the last few years. The need to know what really happened. Maybe it was because there was so little she remembered of her own life before the accident, she wanted a connection to some kind of past. "Now I have Isaac, I'm settled here, and I'm getting more into the modern family business, I guess I'm just looking for pieces of the old one. Grandy would tell me stories of the old family, but they were the same stories over and over, like... they were the safe ones. I dunno. I'd ask him for new ones, but it was the same ones over and over. That must sound pretty lame, right?"

[lycanprofessor]

"People talk about reporting history accurately a lot, but whatever stories we tell have to be tempered with the understanding of the audience," Washington said, taking a drink of his wine as a way to remind himself that he wasn't in a lecture hall at the moment. This wasn't history for Essie, this was personal.

"There's a reason we talk about Martin Luther King Jr before we talk about the Deacons for Defense and Justice, if we talk about the Deacons at all. It's hard to know when the right time is to tell the less than safe stories. Stories are like spells, they can be powerful things if the timing isn't right."

[wakingwakewood]

"And they don't exist in a vacuum, I understand all of that. But the truth is the truth, and that's what I'm after. Not everyone in the family is a saint, I get that. But I can't build my life in a blind and my family has some very old, long-standing grudges that I don't entirely understand."

The more information she had, good or ill, the safer she'd feel in making her own plans. She knew it was a function of luck that her family hadn't come calling yet. Luck and the knowledge that Grandy taught her every protection spell in the book. But castle walls only held for so long before someone saw them as a challenge, not a deterrent. Something - gut instinct, insight, paranoia, was driving her. There were gaps. She needed them filled.

[lycanprofessor]

"Well, I'll do what I can to help you find your truth," he promised her. It was easy to tell that this was important to her, very important, so it was more than just satisfying his own curiosity. It also seemed like it be dangerous in some way, so he would have to be careful too. Washington knew just how dangerous information from the past could be. Hopefully Essie would be able to handle herself. "Even if it does turn out to be dangerous."

[wakingwakewood]

"I'm sure it will be fine." Waving her hand, as if to ward off the very idea of a bad outcome, Essie forced a smile. She didn't want to bring the evening down with all the gloom and doom that surrounded her family. Not unless it became an issue, which she hoped it wouldn't.

"I do appreciate everything you're doing. And if there are any fees, please let me know. I don't even know how much digging all these old records up might cost, I"ve never done anything like this, but I will reimburse any cost. Or forward you funds if it becomes necessary." She didn't want him thinking that she was taking advantage.

[lycanprofessor]

"Mostly right now it costs in favors owed to me, but it's fine. I promise is it ever starts to cost actual money I'll talk to you about it," he said. Washington wasn't rich by any means but he wasn't hurting for money either. He also wasn't going to turn down someone willing to pay him for his work.

"It's not until you want me to start digging around in hostile countries to find ancient artifacts that it gets really expensive. But usually Uncle Sam foots the bill for that work."

[wakingwakewood]

"Seriously?" Essie found herself blinking a bit. It probably shouldn't surprise her, that the government invested in magical artifact retrieval. But at the same time, it was... okay, it was like a damn movie.

"I'm guessing that's a lot less glamorous than it sounds."

[lycanprofessor]

Washington couldn't help the slow smile spread across his face as Essie reacted to what he was saying. He loved it when he was able to work into conversation some of the things he did in his spare time.

"Oh, some of it is absolutely glamorous. I've been all over the world for the work. Most of it is just tedious and dusty, but some of it is glamorous," he said. "And for the record, I had absolutely no problem outrunning the boulder."

[wakingwakewood]

"I don't care about the boulder." Essie took a sip of her wine and fixed Washington with a wicked grin, "I'm much more interested in the fedora and the whip."

In truth, she was curious about all of it. Washington might seem like your standard handsome academic, but the more they talked, the more interested she became. She suspected he had many hidden talents, some that may be more useful in the long run than others.

[lycanprofessor]

"See, everyone remembers the fedora. They told me they were thinking about changing it to a panama hat but I told them it would just get too dirty," Washington said, giving her a broad grin. He liked that wicked smile of hers though, it filled his mind with all sorts of interesting thoughts.

"And the whip was mostly to scare away wild animals. It saw more use in the bedroom than in the jungle."

[wakingwakewood]

"Why Professor Jones, how un-scholastic." Leaning forward a little, Essie felt herself relax. This was more familiar territory, a more familiar dance, one without the spectre of her homicidal relatives hanging overhead. Did she feel a little guilty? Maybe, but she reminder herself again, she was single. She and Bach weren't... well, they weren't this. The guilt could hang, if it came back she'd deal with it later.

"I knew there was something about you I liked."

[lycanprofessor]

"Oh? Are you the sort that likes whips and handcuffs in the bedroom?" He asked, leaning in along with her so that he was that much closer to her. He was consuming himself with her, with the way she looked and felt and Washington wanted.

[wakingwakewood]

"No handcuffs." This wasn't the place to get into it, but she always needed an escape. A way out. She liked her risque behavior as much as the next gal, but not that.

However, Essie really liked where this was heading and all those evil impulses were coming back. He was handsome, built, and all the reasons yes were way outnumbering the nos in the moment. She didn't want to ruin the mood by being negative. She wished she were wearing heels instead of the boots she had, but it didn't stop her from teasing him a little with a toe along the hem of his pants. "But a little roughness can be fun."

[lycanprofessor]

Washington gave a low rumble of a growl as her foot ran along his leg. He could feel his pulse quicken in anticipation, the hunter instinct kicking in and making him want her that much more.

"I do like a little rough," he told her. He actually liked very rough but he understood that not everyone, especially not humans, were into that. "Shall we head back to my place? You'd looking good in nothing but my hat, holding the whip."

[wakingwakewood]

"Oh?" Essie let a slow smile cross her lips as she took a sip of her wine. God, she wanted him. Maybe not the whip, she wasn't usually the rougher, generally the roughee, but it was an interesting proposition.

But those evil thoughts wouldn't stop and she wanted to see how crazy she could drive him before they left. "But we've not finished our drinks, Professor." She let her toe rise a little, hooking it behind his calf a bit as she dipped a finger into her wine, teasingly sucking the liquid off. "I'd hate to rush, wouldn't you?"

[lycanprofessor]

"Well, I wouldn't want to rush anything if we're enjoying the tasting," he said, his voice a low and rumbling growl. Washington liked the teasing though, how she was acting like a predator as much as she was prey. It made the whole thing more thrilling and made him that much more eager. His own leg moved to brush more against hers. "And I do like taking my time to make sure I'm thoroughly appreciating the drink."

[wakingwakewood]

"I like a man who knows how to take his time." Playing with the rim of her glass, Essie tilted her head a bit, considering what, exactly, it was she was doing. This was the closest she'd come to mixing business and pleasure and she wasn't entirely sure it was appropriate.

But appropriate wasn't everything.

"What's on your menu this evening?"

[lycanprofessor]

"Well, I had planned to strip down, shift, and run wild through the woods behind my house," he admitted. Washington didn't need to shift but he liked to. He considered himself as much wolf as he did man. Whatever his nature though, he liked being with a beautiful woman more than he did most anything. "But I don't need to shift and run wild."

[wakingwakewood]

"Well, I think we can manage the stripping down part well enough." The more she thought about it, the more interested in that part she became. Still sipping on her wine, she reached out with her other hand and ran a finger along his forearm. Nice, toned, strong, warm under the shirt he wore and she really wanted to see it crumpled and on the floor somewhere.

"Did you have somewhere in mind?"