Lydia was patient as she gauged Morgan's response. Although patience wasn't something she'd had much of over the past week -- over any given period of time, really -- this was different. She knew it was a touchy subject, and while they may have been sitting in a club filled with humans willing to share their blood, Morgan was the farthest thing from being part of that crowd. At first, as Morgan nodded in understanding, Lydia thought it would all go over smoothly. That, of course, had been wishful thinking.<br/><br/>To her own surprise, as she watched Morgan drop her gaze nervously, she felt a pang of guilt. Or, maybe not guilt ... sympathy? Whatever it was, she wasn't a fan.<br/><i><br/>
Maybe it was the wine. <br/>
</i><br/>It definitely wasn't the wine. Those two glasses weren't nearly enough to throw her off in such a way.<br/><br/>For a solid few seconds, Lydia thought Morgan was going to reject the proposal. She opened her mouth briefly, as if to say something, but before she did, Morgan downed the rest of her whiskey in one fluid motion. Lydia winced a little at the thought of the unpleasant burn that whiskey brought with it.<i>Humans and their strange desires ....</i>When Morgan looked at her again, however, those nervous traces were gone, hesitancy replaced by determination. Maybe a little<i>too</i>much determination. There was something about Morgan's steely gaze that had a piercing quality to it, and Lydia found it a little<i>too</i>attractive. It only made it harder not to think about the prospect of biting her. It wouldn’t be a full-blown feeding; it would be just one bite, only for the sake of marking her, and Lydia was more than capable of controlling herself, but ... just one bite would be enough to catch the taste of Morgan’s blood, and enough to remember it. It’d be a pain if that meant she’d have to fight any further temptations throughout the rest of the investigation.<br/><br/>She let out a sigh of relief, though, as Morgan responded. "Right, no one has to know," she agreed. They only had to keep up the lie long enough to gather the information from Adrian and leave. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of Darcy finding out; she'd never let her forget it. Lydia could practically hear it:<i>"You <b>claimed</b> an Enforcer?!" </i>ignoring the detail about it being faked. Not to mention that if word spread around the Coven that Lydia had claimed<i>anyone</i>, for that matter, it might promote reckless lawbreaking from members of the clan. Needless to say, their little secret would be safe.<br/><br/>And then there was the question of<i>when</i>.<br/><br/>"I think we should approach him as soon as possible. From what I know, Adrian tends to wander from place to place during the week, but over the weekends, he stays put at his estate." The Blackwell estate was more than just a fancy vampire mansion; it functioned as the headquarters of Carpe Noctem, and it extended vastly underground, making it possible for daytime business to occur. "Every other weekend, he hosts some extravagant party there." She had no intention of interruption one of<i>those</i>. "Luckily for us, this is an off week for him. I say we go Sunday, at sunset. It'll give me time to send word to expect a meeting ... although something tells me he won't be all that surprised."