“See? I think someone’s just mad at themselves and wants to put the blame on me,” he teased her gently now. He even leaned down from where he had propped himself on the arm of her chair to kiss her forehead, though his lips were soon replaced by the touch of his hair, then his fingers as they sifted through her hair. The light in his eyes of trapped excitement lingered still as he watched the play of emotion across her face as she struggled to come to terms with the cherry he had just popped.<br/><br/>As much of a psychopath as he oftentimes claimed to be, blamed more often than not on the joke that despite the gilded exterior, his brain was slowly rotting inside his skull, the man still did care. The synapses still went off, defectively, inside the circuit of his mind. And she had managed to trigger a few light bulbs to go off in his head where they had been dead or broken for too long. While she was right and that it wasn’t so much as love that washed his open expression he turned down at her, there was something to be said about the admiration that was there that mingled in with the scientist’s keen eye at discovering something fascinating.<br/><br/>“Relax, luv. You’ve already exerted yourself enough by not thinking before doing; now it looks like you’re stressing yourself out by too much thinking about things that can only benefit you in the long run. We say<i>gods </i>or God like it’s something impressive, when the truth of the matter is it’s all because they’re terms used for things not easily explained. As someone familiar with the arcane arts,<i>mythological beings</i>– even the ones that mankind used to celebrate as higher forms – are simply… evolved differently than what we puny humans are capable of.”<br/><br/>Matter of fact yet still cloying in its soft flow, his voice flowed comfortingly down to greet her. His fingers lifted from where they sifted through her hair to drift down to cup her chin. His fingers smoothed around the stern frown she had set her mouth to while his gaze drifted. At least the jackass’s grin had left his face, replaced by something far more thoughtful.<br/><br/>“If this is the first time that this kind of information has been slapped in your face, I highly doubt there’s anything scary swimming around in your DNA. If it makes you feel better, anyone who even has the smallest whisper of<i>magic</i>, or preternatural abilities, usually have more than just plain Jane human running through their veins. The only difference between now and before we had accurate resources for information is that all the crazy powerful monsters have either died, went into hiding, or can’t be bothered with the silly ant farm that is mankind. If all the magical creatures from fairy land were still wandering Earth, we’d here a lot more about it on the news. There’s only so much anyone can cover up.”<br/><br/>He was included on that list of<i>human with something else </i>in his blood, though his was only a pinch. The rest was using abilities stolen from other<i>things </i>to help him along. If he really stopped to think about it, he was simply a gimmick compared to what she undoubtedly was.<br/><br/>“And if you were going to play around in the dark, you would have done so by now. You’ve got a moral compass; you don’t here; you don’t hear creepy voices in your head. I don’t think. But I am going to take a blood sample and crack open a book,” he confirmed her last inquiry of whether or not he could figure out just what she was.<br/><br/>With those words spoken between them, he finally hitched himself up off the chair and let his hand slide from her face. Bare feet padded across her floor as he disappeared back into her bedroom where he had left his clothes in a heap. The jeans went back on first, hitched up over his hips and buckled back into place before he slid his shirt up and over his head, hiding the odd markings engraved in his flesh from view once more. Dressed now, he went back to where she was with a reassuring smile marking his face after a quick time check from the almost dead cell phone in his pocket.<br/><br/>“We’ll figure this out,” he promised her as he dipped his head and touched his lips against her own. “Meet me later tonight at mine. Say seven?” His eyes danced at the prospect and a smile curled his mouth briefly. “You still have a store to run and I have a class to teach. I’ll even cook you dinner while I science your blood a little bit to see what I can find out. I’ll text you my address closer to the time, OK?”<br/><br/>He lingered there, eyes searching, while he waited for her to confirm or deny him.