GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 171
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 18:25:40 GMT
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Post by GREY MADDOX on Apr 15, 2024 21:09:07 GMT
 Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
It was always the same fucking song. Like a drunk who could only remember one line it would repeat and repeat, belched out of the record player in a corner of the garage. Malcolm had never sung along with it, but occasionally he’d hum, the sound a soft warning that he was more detached than usual. God, he knew better than to walk in then. Those frosty eyes would snap up to meet his, his expression twisting, all the better to frame the snarl that would come from him as though he’d been the wolf and not the woman he’d shacked up with.
Grey stood on the threshold of the dark room, squinting into its thick pools of shadow at the figure moving around in the distance. Moving to the music. A foot tapping with a quiet little thud, thud, thud, its head bobbing. A skinny figure that should’ve snapped like a twig instead of writhing and fighting back. He slipped a hand into his pocket as he stepped in. The wire curled around his fingers as though it wanted to wrap itself around his throat and taste blood. Did dead men bleed? Probably not, but he hadn’t died, had he?
Stepping into the room, Grey drew out the wire. It only let out a small hiss of metal on metal, but the druid twitched all the same. The music shifted as he did. Thump, thump, thump. The screech of the needle over the skipping record. A louder screech that was pure protest…
Snapping awake, Grey burrowed a hand under the covers to find Flower and silence the complaints before she started stomping hard enough in the bed to wake Destiny up. She continued to make small noises, but cut off as Berlioz’s head thrust between the two of them. ”Don’t wake her up,” he whispered to the animals. If he wasn’t quick then something else would do it instead, he realised as another tap came at the bedroom window.
A quick checked showed him that Destiny was still out of it. He pressed a kiss lightly to her shoulder before he slipped out of bed. In the pitch dark of their bedroom he padded across to the window. Thankfully the sky was still free of the pearly glow of dawn, but there was still enough moonlight that he could see the furry little body sitting on the sill. He slid it open, holding a hand out to the squirrel. With it clinging on, he lifted it high enough to look into those beady black eyes. Like sliding into water, he immediately dipped into its mind, catching an impression of a tall figure scattering the dark dust of what he was sure was mountain ash around the edges of a room. A barrier of protection, like it would keep him out.
”Where?” Grey asked hoarsely, his frown deepening as a furry little fist jabbed towards the woods, out beyond the hotel, maybe in the sprawl of residential streets that eventually petered out towards the woods. Enough maybe for him to track again, the same way he had when he’d killed that son of a bitch. That chill started gathering in his gut again, a freeze knot that threatened to swallow him whole. For months it had felt like this wasn’t over, and now it seemed like he finally had proof. Destiny had been right, the sacrifices hadn’t been enough to keep this at bay. He should’ve trusted her, should’ve spent those months throwing himself into the sacrifices like she’d wanted to, instead of slowly chipping away at them.
You failed your son. You thought you were so much better than me, but look at you. Couldn’t even kill a druid. Like he’d risen from the dead along with the druid, Malcolm’s voice rolled out of the dark behind him. A low mocking chuckle leaving him twitching. ”Go keep watch, I’ll catch up,” he ordered the squirrel. It chittered again before it bolted back out of the window.
He slid the window shut and glanced back at the bed. Everything he’d done had been to protect Destiny and Petyr, too many times he’d failed. Malcolm was right, he’d been a fool, thinking he could end it all that easily. He wasn’t about to fuck it up a third time. If the kid was out there, he’d die this time. Torn into tiny pieces, scattered across the entire state, there’d be no way for Leah to bring him back. It had to have been her, rubbing another failure in his face.
Silently, he padded across the room, easing open the doors to the walk-in. He slipped into jeans, a dark top. The kit was still bundled in the duffel on the top shelf of the closet. Grey’s jaw flexed as he reached up for it, clutching it to his chest as he heard the covers on the bed shift. He could see the three of them in the thin wash of moonlight that crept through the curtain he’d left half open. The dark of the closet probably half hid him from view, but Destiny knew exactly where he was.
Walking out, he set the bag on the floor just outside the closet door, hoping she hadn’t seen it. ”Hey, go back to sleep. There’s no point in both of us being up,” he whispered soft. Grey dipped his head, pressing a kiss to her forehead, then her lips. ”I’m just gonna pop downstairs, make sure everything’s alright.” As though he was just restless, instead of twitching like a livewire. His brain was throwing up images of the druid as he’d left him like sparks off of a firework, a warning of an explosion that he couldn’t let burn their lives to the ground again.
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DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 181
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 22, 2024 19:37:32 GMT
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Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Apr 28, 2024 18:55:06 GMT
 ━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
Sometimes she felt herself slipping into a mindset where she didn’t care who died so long as it contributed to the cause. Sometimes it didn’t matter how close they were to getting caught━Destiny only thought of Petyr, and of Grey, her little family that she would work endlessly to protect.
She rose slightly, to a state of semi-consciousness when she felt the press of something━of lips━on her shoulder. Shifting, weight leaving the bed. Grey was probably just going to the bathroom, so Destiny didn’t bother opening her eyes or moving. She only took a deep breath and tried to go back to sleep, not hearing more than little murmurs coming from the bathroom.
Destiny tried to go back to sleep, but it was hard without Grey next to her━and while Flower was shifting around, trying to get comfortable again. He didn’t come back to bed, though. She heard him move across the bedroom to the other side, then start shifting around in the closet. Not knowing if she’d fallen back asleep or how much time had passed, not while she still wasn’t fully conscious, Destiny finally shifted a little, eyes peeling open to peer around the room. They adjusted to the low light, and she found him, partially hidden in the closet, grabbing something. “Grey?” Destiny whispered.
She moved onto one elbow, frowning as Grey emerged, setting something on the floor. Was that… the bag they used for sacrifices? And when he got closer, she realized he was dressed. Her lips moved slow, not puckering ‘til a second before he shifted away, trying to clear the tiredness clinging like a fog in her head.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Destiny puffed quietly, furrowing her brows up at him. Did he actually get a call about something, or was he going somewhere without her? The real pain of that would hit later, not while she was still trying to grasp at her consciousness.
She could sense the energy rippling from him, but differently than a girlfriend━a fiancée━normally would. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t figure out what. And she didn’t know why he wouldn’t share it with her. “You need that stuff to go downstairs?” Destiny asked with a frown, nodding to the bag he’d left by the closet.
Flinging the comforter off herself━which erupted in more protests from Flower━Destiny shifted and sat up fully. Wherever he was going, she was going with him━whether he liked it or not. She didn’t get off the bed completely, though━just in case he wasn’t actually going anywhere important. Or he changed his mind. And as much as she’d like to go back to sleep, she didn’t think either of those things were in the cards.
“Where are you actually going?” She asked, blinking slowly up at him, though the frown was still fixed on her features━looking more like a childlike pout than real anger.
GREY MADDOX |  |
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GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 171
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 18:25:40 GMT
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Post by GREY MADDOX on May 18, 2024 18:32:33 GMT
Taking a life was supposed to add some sort of a weight to you. The blood on your hands adding a thousand pounds to your conscience. Some, weak to start with, were crushed under it. Broken men and women bowed and grey, something vital stolen from them along with the life they’d taken. When the druid had finally gone still, the opposite had happened. The crushing pressure of the curse lifting in an instant. He could breathe. For weeks afterwards he’d thought it was finally fucking over. Destiny was safe.
Dreams of Petyr had drifted in soon afterwards, like thunderclouds building on the horizon. His son back here with them, footsteps pattering through the apartment. The family whole again now that the thing that had torn them apart was gone. Images of Destiny standing out on the terrace, their boy held against her chest, her stomach blooming below with a little brother or sister. Their family growing without the shadow of death hanging over them. That possible future – tragically without their son – had to be what they were moving towards. More sacrifices, layers of protection put in place. As the dreams started to morph, Grey had realised it wasn’t enough. Maybe it would never be.
With the door to his conscience torn wide open by them, doubts had started to settle in. Nights spent awake in the dark, watching over Destiny to make sure nothing could follow them back here. If anything he was proof that what died in this town didn’t have to stay dead. He was out there somewhere. Maybe conspiring with Leah to make sure that this time it was final for him. Ensuring that he’d suffer through losing Destiny first – he’d already seen the echoes of his mother in her, the threat that she would take the sacrifices too far and end up as lifeless as those they killed.
She was still warm, still flushed with life as he slipped from their bed. He hoped she’d stay asleep, guarded over by the furry members of their family as he went out to try and crush that son of a bitch again. The whisper of his name as he emerged from the closet with his kill bag in hand had the echoes of Malcolm’s voice that had followed him from his dreams drifting away. Where there’d only ever been doubt rolling from his father, there was only ever hope from Destiny.
Up on one elbow, she was a siren, luring him back to bed. God, he wanted to be able to put the bag back and slip into bed with what remained of his family. The squirrel could’ve been wrong. It was just an animal, incapable of complex reasoning. This was a town full of the supernatural, it could have been anybody that they’d seen… The thought shredded as he forced the lie past his lips. What if it wasn’t? Knowing he couldn’t settle, Grey decided he had to check. In an hour he’d be back here, maybe reassured enough to get back to sleep.
He shrugged, the gesture feeling awkward. ”You know what it’s been like,” he said lightly. ”That guy Catia’s fiancé brought here … I just want to make sure security’s tight.” The one person he was desperate to keep safe was up here, as isolated from all that trouble as she could possibly be. Looking up at him with a frown on her beautiful face. If he could smell doubt the same way werewolves did, he was sure it would be rolling off of Destiny now. He was worrying her.
Even in the dark she could see, she could tell that something was off. The second she nodded to the bag he set aside, Grey hung his head. If he looked at her, she’d see and he’d never be able to leave her here then. Destiny would want to be at his side, walking into what might be another nightmare. ”I don’t know … maybe.” The response was weak, a curse slipping out to follow it as Destiny threw back the covers. ”Baby, you don’t have to get up. I can handle this.” If it had only been the asshole who’d come for Catia, that might have been a promise he could make. The druid was a cockroach though, seemingly impossible to kill.
Grey side stepped, trying to throw up some kind of a block between Destiny and the bag. He dragged a hand over his face, watching her sit there on the brink of following him. Just walking out wasn’t an option now. If he went, she’d follow him. For a second after she demanded answers again, he just stood there, but then a breath rolled out of him, leaving him feeling hollow. ”Out,” he said tightly. ”One of the squirrels came. They think they’ve seen something I need to check out. Like I said, it doesn’t need both of us. You know what they’re like … always so dramatic.” A lie. They were just animals, albeit ones that might’ve blown what they’d seen out of proportion for a few extra nuts.
Stepping close again, he bent, trying to put them more on a level. One hand cupped her cheek, the other curled over one of her thighs. ”I won’t be long. I’ll be back before you get back to sleep. Snuggle back down with these guys, alright?” He knew the animals would complain more about being up than Destiny, the grumbling would start soon and tender hearted as she was Destiny might not want to spread the disruption. Might being the operative word. The two of them had settled back into always working together to protect their family and now he’d been ready to slip out without her, the fact that it was for her own protection not mattering one bit.
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DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 181
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 22, 2024 19:37:32 GMT
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Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Jun 17, 2024 14:42:47 GMT
━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
Slowly, as Destiny came further into consciousness, she began to see this situation more clearly. She shifted to the edge of the bed, abandoning all thought of sleep as she readied herself to get up. Grey’s curse was only further proof that something else was up.
She made a light pfft sound as he attempted to reassure her, and, before she could get up, he shifted to stand in her way. Destiny looked up, brow furrowed while she asked for an actual answer this time. She didn’t wanna call what he said before a lie, but it was a little too close to that for her liking. He wasn’t just going downstairs, he was going out.
Destiny frowned deeper when he called the squirrels dramatic. She almost snapped, ‘Don’t talk about them like that,’ but realized it would sound a bit too much like defending one of her actual fur babies. She knew they were technically employees, but they were just so damn cute.
“We said we were gonna do this stuff together.” She argued quietly, still pouting up at Grey. “And since when are the squirrels dramatic? They’re just squirrels. They don’t know what’s important.” But she was kinda disproving her own point with that━she only realized it after the words left her mouth. Maybe they should’ve trained crows. “Why’re you taking the whole bag if it just needs one person? ‘Cause if you say ‘just in case’... well, then I think I should come. Just in case.” She raised her brows, waiting for his counter argument, but then he pulled out the big guns. Grey bent, trying to level with her, she supposed.
She was gonna call him a liar, but Destiny figured that wouldn’t go over very well. She frowned, leaning her head into his palm slightly, focused on the heat he was radiating into her leg through a single touch. She savoured it like it was gonna be the last time she’d feel it. Except… if she wasn’t gonna start a fight, then she had one more trick up her sleeve.
Destiny planted her palms on the mattress and turned her head somewhat, just enough to brush her lips over his thumb. She spread her thighs in invitation, the hem of his T-shirt sliding up her legs. “Or you could just stay… keep me warm. Whatever it is, it can wait.” Her tongue slid over the tip of his digit, but her eyes didn’t stray from his.
The second he hesitated, it was over. Whatever test she’d been conducting, he’d failed it. Destiny shifted to get around him and stand, then pulled the shirt over her head. It wasn’t meant to be a tease━that he’d only see her naked for a second━but Destiny hoped it was torture all the same.
She threw on a bra, underwear, sweatpants and a T-shirt, and glanced at Grey with a raised brow━somewhere between expecting something and daring him to say it━as she crossed the room to grab the bag. If he wanted to bring it, then he had to bring her, too━not that she’d let him leave without her at this point.
“Are you gonna tell me where we’re going now, or what?” She asked without looking at him, moving through their bedroom door. Now that the problems were finally leaving, Flower curled up beside Berlioz’s belly, but the dog was staring after them, though his concern didn’t outweigh his fear of bothering Flower’s sleep again.
Destiny hit the button for the elevator and slipped on her shoes, then finally met his eyes. “What happened to promising we were gonna do all of this together?” She asked again, “You got so mad when I did that sacrifice without you, now look━were you even gonna wake me up to say you were going?” Her question echoed his from that night━Were you even going to tell me about this?━and it made her throat burn. She didn’t think it was gonna take them weeks to recover from this━he hadn’t actually done anything yet━but it still hurt that he tried to keep her out of it.
GREY MADDOX | |
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GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 171
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 18:25:40 GMT
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Post by GREY MADDOX on Jul 14, 2024 18:48:16 GMT
They were doing this together. It was a promise he’d made multiple times before, in a hundred different ways. Vows not to leave her, not to leave them. Pressed and whispered against Destiny’s lips, her hair, her throat. Always meant and yet in the name of protecting her from what he thought was out there, he stretched those promises. He couldn’t say that he knew there was a threat out there now to protect her from, not when they were doubts swimming around in his head and his gut.
Grey sighed, wanting to reach a hand towards her to brush his thumb over her brow to wipe away the frown he hated seeing there. The second he felt her sleep warm skin he would cave though. Slip back into bed, convincing himself that he’d been the one to make the squirrels paranoid in the first place by telling them a dead man was walking around the town.
Shit. Her frown deepened, signs of mutiny growing and he did give in then. ”We are,” he promised again, the muscles in his jaw tightening for a moment. When they released into a smile it felt as though they’d cracked, tension releasing. ”Always. Especially since their wages have risen.” More treats from Destiny meant more stories to earn them, wilder stories that he had to crack like nuts to get to the truth. They’d never out and out lied before though.
His teeth sank into his tongue as she practically dared him to bullshit her. If it had just been the son of a bitch who’d came after Catia before he wouldn’t have needed the bags, he could have finishing taking him apart with his power alone. ”I did want to be prepared,” he admitted. ”It’s almost definitely overkill.” Except for if someone had brought the druid back. He knew she would give everything to that fight, but if he lost her too, it would kill him. The curse would end with his death instead of the druid’s – unless, in some sort of karmic miracle it would jump to Leah instead.
He'd been right, the moment he touched Destiny he felt his resolve start to weaken. Grey skimmed his thumb along her cheekbones and then stilled as Destiny shifted. Her lips brushing his thump, the silent, powerful invitation of her thighs parting, the shift of thin fabric leaving his mouth going dry. Bending just a little further would cure that thirst. ”I don’t know,” he admitted hoarsely. It could wait, he could send the squirrels out with clearer instructions. He could reassure himself with the thing he was most certain about in this world. Getting as far as mentally arguing with himself that he could just bring her along didn’t happen before Destiny was already up.
”We could stay here, I’m feeling warmer already,” he started as she peeled the shirt off. Destiny wasn’t dragging him back to bed though, she was getting dressed again. Without a single angry word she’d won the argument, slicing through his bullshit like she’d used a scalpel instead of frowns, disappointment, and a single glimpse of her thighs. He watched, his gaze skimming over her limbs, up her torso to meet her eyes as all that skin disappeared. Grabbing the bag, Destiny slid past, leaving him and the repeated request to know what was going on in her wake.
Pausing for just a second, Grey rubbed a hand over Berlioz’s head. ”We won’t be long,” he promised, tugging the covers back around the two of them. He trailed after Destiny, his expression growing tight again. ”North, I didn’t get anything more accurate than that from the squirrel.” A man, scattering dark dust in an almost entirely anonymous room. It could have been anything could’ve been perfect innocent, but how often to things work out that way in their world?
His eyes held hers for a moment as Destiny again pointed out his hypocrisy. Guilt settled heavy in his gut and he shook his head. ”I didn’t want to put you in danger if it was.” The elevator arrived and he finally wrapped an arm around her, drawing Destiny against him as he slipped in and hit the button for the new garage level. ”I knew I was a hypocrite, a ghra.”
Frowning, he drew her in close enough to press a kiss to her forehead like that would steady him. ”I think the druid’s back. The squirrels didn’t see clearly, but there was someone with mountain ash.” As though there was only three of them in town who could have it – him, Destiny, and his curse. His mouth pinched into a thin line, the bitter taste of paranoia filling his mouth. ”I’ve been feeling it for a couple of weeks. This itch. I came back, what’s to stop him doing the same?” That little voice whispered at the back of his mind as the doors opened and they stepped out. He’d had a reason to come back, he had someone to try and save him. He had Destiny.
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DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 181
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 22, 2024 19:37:32 GMT
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Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Aug 4, 2024 19:23:25 GMT
━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
“North? That’s it?” She asked, stuffing her feet into her shoes and finally looking at him. “So… they saw something you need to ‘check out,’ and all you’re gonna give me is North?” He was getting on her nerves, and maybe that was something to do with the fact that her sleep was interrupted. But he wasn’t telling her the whole truth, just letting her ask questions over and over, only giving pieces each time.
He drew her in as the elevator arrived, planting a kiss on her forehead once they were inside, and Destiny looked down to try to hide her expression. A tiny smile and the beginnings of a blush when he called her that name━the same one that was etched into the bracelet he’d given her last year. “Just stop doing it.” She mumbled, but the heat had left her voice, and she sounded a bit like a whining child now.
Finally, he explained. The druid was back━the threat he thought he’d gotten rid of. They were on their way to taking down Leah, but he’d already killed her once. It made sense why he was so worried about this━if he couldn’t get rid of either of them, it’d just be another notch in the score of how many times they were unable to protect their family. “Maybe someone else had it,” She tried to soothe him, her voice gentle now, “One of the wolves or something.” Leah had used it on her, so it wasn’t impossible that it was just floating around Mystic Falls.
“That was different.” Destiny argued lightly, slipping one arm around his back. “You weren’t really gone. You just… you needed a little boost.” Maybe that wasn’t true, but she didn’t wanna think about Grey dying. And she didn’t want to think about how some people got to come back, but their baby boy never did.
She began walking to his car, only separating from Grey to toss the bag in the backseat and get in. “We’re gonna make sure it’s not him, and we’re gonna do it together, okay?” Destiny smiled at Grey like she was encouraging him to do the same, “We got this. And I’ve got you,” As cheesy as it sounded, she wanted to reiterate the fact that she’d always support him, and that they were better together.
GREY MADDOX | zee end |
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