"Have you tried any of this?" he asked.
"No."
"Try it."
She took it back. She wanted to reach out to him, but she was ashamed even to look at him. Would he soon grow tired of her showing up at his door, demanding a meal?
"I don't want to use you," she voiced out loud.
"Pardon?"
"I don't want to use you for … for your blood. I don't like being dependent on anyone. It'll get old for you one day."
"It won't."
"How could it not? It's just the way things are," she insisted. "I'm an addict. You're the supplier. What if you get a new job someday and stop selling drugs?"
"I never thought of it that way," he admitted, chuckling. "I am what I am, and you are what you are. I don't second-guess that."
"I'm not as confident as you. My existence relies on you giving me blood. Sometimes I think you'd rather eat me than talk to me." She hugged herself and faced him, agitated. "I don't like being hungry and not being able to go to the kitchen."
"I understand."
By the reserved note in his voice, he did. If she closed her eyes, she would see the black memories crossing through his mind, but she allowed him his privacy.
"I will never make you beg or deny you what you need," he said, gaze dark. "If you're hungry, visit the kitchen. I won't say no."
"I don't want this."
"It's not your choice. You must learn to trust me."
Trust! She almost laughed. Kidnapping, involuntary resurrection-these were not the foundations on which trust was built!
*****
Damian held out his hand to her. She hesitated while her silver eyes swirled with hypnotic slowness. His terrified, brave little Oracle was entrancing, the shimmer that caught his attention when they met much stronger with their bond.
She was trying. He never thought something so simple could please him so much. He couldn't flush away the dark memories from his time after the Schism when he'd been enslaved by humans intent on using his god-powers, but he could protect her from a similar fate. She moved forward, taking refuge from him in his own arms, a reality that amused him.
"Damian, I'm a monster, even in your world." Her heartbreak was in her voice, and he squeezed her closer to him. He didn't think he'd ever met a human or Guardian as honest as this one.
"At least you're a cute monster," he replied.
She pulled away, her anger rippling through him. He didn't know how something so innocuous could piss her off, but then again, thousands of years hadn't given him much insight into a woman's mind.