No Need To Be Human

Cody nodded, slowly looking up at her, still terrified though he smiled a little at what she said about Jacen; though he would have laughed if he wasn't so scared. "He...he really does that?" He asked quietly, trying not to sound as scared as he actually was. "Why?"

"Because unlike me he embraces what he is," Dia shrugged, "I hate me being a succubus, he likes being an incubus. As long as he can get away with it, he'll drink and he'll go find people to feed off of. But what can you expect when you were raised by unseelie fae."

She sighed and looked at the raven, "She's beautiful, I didn't ask her name."

"I guess that explains why so many people leave his brother's game angry..." Cody muttered, rolling his eyes. "Probably cheats somehow..."

He'd never trusted the Westmore twins since he'd joined the circus, though he'd never actually known what they were, having kept his distance from them. He was glad he had now.

Cody smiled at the question about the bird, which was back on his shoulder, keeping her eyes on Dia. "Her name's Leila." He said softly. "In Arabic and Hebrew it means 'Night'."

"Jacen and Arty are good people, be they unseelie fae or not. It's not our species that defines us, it's what we decide to do with ourselves," Dia smiled softly. "Leila, it's a very pretty name. Does she know tricks? When I was little, there was a raven that belonged to one of the other members of the circus that could take money."

"Try telling that to my father." Cody muttered, frowning. "I guess I probably should get to know them better... I just..." He trailed off, not wanting to admit he was paranoid.

He nodded at Dia's comment on the Raven's name, smiling again. "She's not actually mine, so no. She just lives around here with her family." He explained. "Though it probably wouldn't be that hard to ever teach her something."

"Whats your disorder?" when Dia realized how rude that sounded she slapped a hand over her mouth, "I..I didn't mean that...I meant...what makes you a Malkavian..."

A blush crept to her cheeks as they walked, she didn't mean to offend anyone but she often had problem with wording things.

Cody pulled a face at the way she asked the question, Leila shifting uncertainly on his shoulder, sensing something had bothered him. He spoke quietly to the Raven to calm her down before responding to Dia. "What makes you think I am?" Cody asked nervously. "Other Vampires can talk to animals...can't they?"

"No," Dia replied simply, "our ring master can only talk to his 'pet' when he's in were form because they've been together for so long. I've never seen another vampire ever talk to an animal..."

"Oh..." Cody said, frowning. "Well my father called it 'paranoia'." He said, rolling his eyes. He made a frustrated sound when he realised he'd actually told someone, guessing it was part of the 'enthrallment' she'd told him about, Leila getting restless again in response to the sound.

"Maybe your father just didn't know how to deal with it," shrugged Dia, "but like I said I need to get home to my son. It's his bed time, care to go? He'll sleep and we can talk over coffee or beer or something."

"I guess..." Cody said, shrugging as well before nodding. "Sure... but I still have to go finish feeding first..." He said quietly, his eyes on the wound on Dia's neck from where he'd fed on her earlier. He was tempted to just finish feeding on her, seeing as it had already affected him anyway, but didn't want to hurt her.

Dia raised a hand to the wound on her neck where Cody had fed. "I'll...I'll make you a deal. You can feed on me a bit more. But when it's done with, I feed on you. It won't hurt you, it'll be like you're in the middle of a really great bout of sex..."

Cody blushed slightly at what Dia said, looking away as he thought about it, slowly nodding after a minute. "Okay..." He said quietly.

He turned to look at Leila, speaking quietly to her, obviously having told her she could go, as she flew off afterwards; Cody frowning slightly as he watched, always feeling calmer around his animal friends.

Dia fiddled with the keys to her caravan as they approached it, smiling when she saw Nolee sitting with Louis who was asleep in bed. She dismissed her friend before inviting Cody inside, "Be quiet, Louis is asleep..."

Once Nolee was gone, Cody came back over to Dia from where he'd been waiting in the shadows; using his ability to conceal himself out of paranoia. He nodded and came inside after Dia invited him in, staying silent; the entrallment making him think he wasn't allowed to make a sound unless she said so, though part of him knew that being completely silent isn't what Dia had meant. He stayed standing just inside the door, looking around nervously.

The outside of the rv betrayed how nice it was inside and Dia liked it that way. She had a large interior, with a bedroom (where she and Louis usually slept in two seperate beds) and a bathroom as well as a living area. She frowned when she looked over at Cody, "I didn't mean be completely silent, I just don't want you waking up my son. You can talk with me."

"Sorry..." Cody said automatically, frowning afterwards. He rolled his eyes and muttered something, annoyed that the enthrallment made him feel the need to apologise. "What did you want to talk about...?" He asked quietly after he'd stopped muttering.

"The enthrallment...what this means for two total strangers," Dia laughed bitterly as she worked around hte small kitchen to start brewing a pot of coffee. "I don't know anything about you other than you're the Rhodes boys others call a frea-" she stopped herself, forcing herself to turn around. "I'm sorry I didn't mean that..."

Cody nodded, but frowned at the word Dia almost used. Usually he'd snap at someone who called him a freak, but didn't say anything about it. "It's fine..." He muttered, the irritation he'd normally show at the word showing through the tone he spoke in. "I'm not a freak though; people just never really bother trying to learn more about me because they all assume I'm one."

"I've never called you a freak, it's other people that do. I was taunted enough as a child that I'm not that crude," Dia replied softly, having not really meant to call him one. "So tell me about you. I want to know about you Cody Rhodes."

"I'm still not." Cody muttered, pouting and folding his arms. "They all just assume I am because I'm a Malkavian that I'm a freak; it's not my fault the man who bit me was- " He quickly stopped, realising what he was saying, which he'd never actually told anyone else.

Cody looked away, biting his lip, trying to ingore his anger over the whole situation, partly caused by his hunger. He knew if he gave into it he'd end up waking up Dia's son, which he couldn't do, having been told not to. His father had gotten frustrated with his tantrums, things often ending up broken when Cody had them.
Before he'd been turned, Cody had been calm and cheerful; the anger, like the paranoia, had been passed onto him from his Sire.

"S-So what did you want to know about me?" Cody asked, hoping to distract her from what he'd said before, not really wanting to talk about how he'd been turned.

"Why don't you tell me about before you were turned," Dia shrugged, ignoring his angry outburst. "you obviously weren't born a vampire."

She poked her head inside the bedroom, smiling when she saw her son asleep on the bed. There was one thing that would always make her happy and that was her son. Turning back to Cody, she sat across from him at the dining room table. "So start at the beginning and I'll answer any questions you have about me."

"No, I wasn't..." Cody said quietly. "I didn't even think they really existed until I was turned..." He watched as Dia went to check on her son, biting his lip when he remembered he was hungry. He looked down at his feet as Dia looked back at him, frowning; though he looked back up at her when she spoke again.

Nodding, he slowly sat down at the table as well, running a hand through his dark hair.
"I never really knew my mother, but I was close to my father and brother..." He said quietly.

Dia nodded and took his hand, looking at it. "I read palms you know. My brother, Devyn, was a seelie Eshu. He could read palms and he taught me how to do it."

She examined his palm, smiling softly as she did. "It says here you have a long life full of friends and family."

Pulling back she gave a shy smiled, "But that's not what you want is it? You need to feed now." she beared her neck, "Remember, after you feed I need to feed."

Cody smiled when Dia mentioned having a brother, ignoring the paranoia he usually had about people he didn't really know touching him. He raised an eyebrow at his supposed fortune, but didn't bother questioning it at all, staying quiet as Dia spoke again.

He stared as she exposed her neck, forcing himself not to let his instincts take over and just pounce on her like the Lions and Tigers that were part of the circus would do if they were hunting for food. Instead, Cody ended up climbing onto the table, crawling over it to kneel in front of where Dia was sitting, carefully pulling her closer so he could reach her neck from his spot on the table, feeding from where he had earlier to save her having another wound.

Cody knew other Vampires, especially the Ventrue, would frown at his behaviour, but he didn't care.