“ JESPER, ” HE CORRECTS, TILTING HIS HEAD A LITTLE CLOSER TO HERS; as charming as he finds the name she’s given him … he’ll never remember to answer to it. “ if you’re going to grumble and growl at me all night, you may as well use my name. leeches already have such a bad reputation — what with being compared to politicians and money hoarders all the time. it’s quite cruel, there’s no need to further villainise them, ”
oh she is fun. there isn’t a shred, a modicum, of restraint in this human. all that energy and anger — he couldn’t be the only one in the hall to have smelled it on her the second she walked in. if he were a lesser vampire, he probably would have forgone all decorum and tried to sink his teeth into her right there.
but! that was messy, and it attracted scavengers. jesper liked to avoid those, too, at all costs.
“ besides … leeches leave marks. ugly ones. you’d never even know when i had my mouth on someone, ” that much was very true; jesper had mastered the art of somewhat covering his involvement with any exsanguinated bodies that might turn up at local mortuaries. as they continue towards the balcony, jesper relaxes his shoulders, readies himself for a long night of dodging blows. he nods at the first waiter they pass, smiling coyly as he takes a glass of champagne; the poor man crashes into another waiter while staring. “ unless i’m asked to leave a mark. ahem. what’s this about needing information? are you prepared to pay a price for it? ”
jesper. how. . .oddly fitting. jyn muses over the name, lets it sink into her mind as she studies his face, placing the two together in her memory as the association could prove useful in the future. out loud, however, she has no intention of calling him that ; there is little point in humanizing her prey, not when she will inevitably kill him. he is a means to an end, a creature from which she can extract information and nothing more.
that –– and she can already tell that it will be amusing to continue to push his buttons in this way.
her lips curl into a sneer at the excess nattering. while she usually doesn’t mind when her marks chatter on aimlessly, usually dropping more hints than they realize, she suspects jesper is the type to talk a lot without saying much. she curls her hand over his arm, nails digging into the fabric of his suit coat and not letting up, even when he plucks a nearby flute of champagne from a passing waiter and causes chaos in his wake. but she doesn’t let go, nor speak, until they’re outside and well beyond the hearing of a normal human.
“ what a coincidence ! i have also gotten quite good at hiding my marks, ” she replies, eyes flashing. to punctuate her words, she taps her stake against his ribs, a few inches below her target. “ but i reckon we’re talking about two different things here, yeah ? ‘cause the only mark you’ll be getting from me is a hole to the chest. ” a steady beat of adrenaline thrums through her veins ; it’s been all too long since she’s gotten a taste of a hunt –– and a challenge, at that. but at this point in her investigation, he is more useful alive undead than dead.
“ are you really in the position to be bargaining with me, leech ? as i see it, you’re the one who needs to start talking before i start getting impatient. ” she pauses, mulling over her words and how much she should tell him. “ bodies have been turning up with torn throats and completely drained of blood. you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, now would you ? ”