The Narrow Walk, Pt 1c/15 (3 sections to Pt 1)

[darqstar]

DISCLAIMER: The X-Men belong to Marvel Comics. Darkstar/
Rhiannon belongs to JF Jackson.

The Narrow Walk
By JF Jackson
Pt 1c/15 (Three parts to part one.
This story has 15 chapters)

The place she lead him to was a small all-night
diner. She picked a booth towards the back.
Apparently, she was a regular here, because they'd
barely sat down when a tired looking middle aged
waitress came over with a mug of coffee and placed it
down in front of her. "You want coffee?" she asked
him.

"Oui."

The waitress walked away. "Darkstar" clutched the
coffee mug, bringing it up to her nose and sniffing
deeply. "I love the smell of coffee."

He saw now that her eyes were brown and fringed with
long, thick, soft lashes.

"I like the effects better dan de smell," he
admitted.

"Sign of an addict." She grinned, leaning back in the
cracked vinyl booth. "So,
what did you want to talk to me about?"

He had a moment to collect his thoughts before
answering, as the waitress brought him his coffee and
two very stained menus. When she walked away, he
picked one up and offered it to Darkstar. "You...
intrigued me tonight."

She shook her head at the offer of the menu. "Oh,
that's what they're calling it now, intrigue. Is that
a polite way of saying you'd like to fuck me?"

She said this in such a matter-of-fact voice that he
was almost afraid he misunderstood her. He shook his
head. "Non,"

"Liar."

"Think a lot of yourself, don' you?" he retorted.

She laughed. "Everyone sells something, I sell sex."

He shook his head. "You sellin' a lot more'n sex up
there," he disagreed. "You 'ave a very good voice."

She smiled, her eyes suddenly changing from brown to
green, not a subtle change, like hazel eyes sometimes
did, they literally flickered from deep brown to a
bright emerald green "Thanks."

His head pulled back in a double-take. Did her eyes
really change colour? He wanted to come straight out
and ask her if she was a mutant, but he didn't dare.
Before he could think of anything brilliant to say,
the waitress came over to take their order. She
ordered a cheese omelette. Not being familiar with
this place, he followed her lead ordering the same
thing.

When the waitress left, she made a big production of
straightening out her silverware. Her brow knitted as
if she were puzzled by something.

"Somet'in wrong?" he asked her.

She looked at him. "Yes. I-if you aren't doing this
to try to get me into bed, then why are you here?"

"D'you t'ink so little of yourself that you can'
believe anyone would want to talk to you without
tryin' t'have you?" he countered.

She shrugged. "When someone wants to meet me after
seeing me perform, that's usually the reason." She
snorted. "I've yet to have any guy say, 'God you were
great, can I take you home to meet my Mom?'"

The thought of someone doing that seemed so
ridiculous he couldn't help but chuckle. "Non, I don'
want to take you home to meet my mother." Whoever she
is

"Then why, Gambit?"

"I don' know-" he began, then stopped. He couldn't
remember if he'd given her his name, but he knew for
certain he didn't give her his code name.

She saw the confused, suspicious look on his face and
grinned. "Oh, c'mon, are you really surprised I
figured it out? I'm not stupid, I've seen the X-Men
on TV and in the papers and I figured it out. If you
want to be unknown, you've got to either wear dark
glasses or get some... special contact lenses."

"Good point."

She chuckled. "Don't get out of the ma- house a lot,
do you?"

"Enough t'see you."

"Yeah, and I guess you were pretty impressed. So,
let's get back to the original subject. Why did you
want to talk with me?"

"B'cause I never seen anyone sing like you b'fore.
Least nobody as good as you in a bar like dat. You
wastin' your talent Chere."

"Oh?" Her head tipped to one side. "The X-Men have
expanded into talent management? Or is that just your
sideline?"

"Non, just surprised me, dat's all." Since she'd
figured out who he was, he didn't figure it would
hurt to ask anymore, "Are you a mutant?"
"Why, I hardly think that's a question to be asking
on our first date." She fluttered her lashes in an
exaggerated fashion, reaching for his package of
cigarettes. "Mind?"

He shook his head at her request and answered, "I was
curious. You... charmed that audience tonight. I was
just wonderin' if..."

She paused from lighting the cigarette. "Oh, what
next? You think maybe, I really suck, but I cast some
sort of mutant spell on the audience?" She put the
cigarette down and rummaged in her backpack. "Here."
She pulled out a cassette tape and tossed it at him.
"Listen to this tomorrow, and you'll see that what
you heard tonight is the real me, not some spell."

Her speech finished, she lit up the cigarette and
inhaled deeply.
He accepted the cassette tape. "Non, you
misunderstand.. I do t'ink it was you. But I'd like
to keep dis if you don' mind."

"Suit yourself." Her eyes flickered again, switching
to an azure blue.
"Aw, I wasn't tryin' to offend you," he explained. "I
was just curious... de world ain't safe for mutants,
an if you were one-"

"You were going to tell me you know of a safe place
for mutants," she finished. "Save the speech. Yes,
I'm a mutant. I admit it. But I don't need any help
and I don't want any help. I'm doing fine on my own."

"Two rants in five minutes, I'm really pissin' you
off," his voice was quiet.

Her shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be
a bitch. I... I'm tired I guess."

"It's okay."

The waitress brought their food over, an interruption
for which Remy was grateful. Neither of them said
much as they turned their attentions to eating. She's
a prickly t'ing he thought. I guess I can understand,
isn't easy bein' a mutant in dis world, but she's got
to realize if I'm one of de X-Men, I'm on her side.

Her table manners were good, but she ate rapidly,
demolishing the omelette and home fries in just under
ten minutes. "Hungry, Darkstar?" he asked.

She nodded. "More than you'll realize."

"Must be hard work, singing like dat."

She shrugged. "I love it, actually. But it is a
bit... draining." She looked out the window and back
at him. "I-I can't stay much longer."

"Jus' give me a chance t'finish and I'll see you
home," he offered.
She shook her head, suddenly tense. "No, it's okay. I
can make my way home."
He didn't like this idea at all. "Dese streets can be
dangerous dis hour of de night. Really, it's no
trouble."

"No.. I'd prefer to see myself home." She rose from
the table, her gaze going constantly to the window.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple
bills, tossing them on the table. "This should cover
my tab."

"I agreed to buy," he protested.

"Yeah, but I'm cutting out on you. Use it as the tip
if you want." She gathered up her backpack and rose
from the booth.

"Wait!" He reached out and took her hand, before she
could walk out. "Chere, I still want t'talk to you."

"All right, all right! Do you know where Windsor Road
is?"

He nodded, thinking she was going to accept his offer
to see her home. "Oui. Dat where you live?"

"Yeah. If you go all the way to the end, you'll see
the pavement ends and there is a dirt road. Follow
the dirt road to the end and you'll see a cabin. I'm
not performing tomorrow night, so if you really want
to talk to me, you can come over then. See you."

Before he could stop her, she twisted away from him,
turned and literally ran out the door.

He stared for a moment, startled at how quick her
escape was, then got up and ran out the door.

She was nowhere in sight. It was as if she'd just
vanished into the night.
Sighing, he walked back inside to pay the check.

*****

She ran two blocks before she convinced herself she
wasn't being followed. She slowed down to a walk. As
she passed an alleyway, a figure stepped out of the
shadows and came towards her.

Her eyes narrowed, then she shrugged. "Oh, hi,
Stealth."

He raised his hand in greeting and walked along side
of her. He stood two inches taller than her and even
thinner. His skin was extremely pale and his long,
black hair was tied in a ponytail, held by a leather
thong. He didn't look older than nineteen.

To anyone who passed by, they looked like two friends
walking along silently. No one could hear their
conversation.

~You left him.~

~I know, Stealth, I know.~ She kicked a can someone had
dropped on the sidewalk. She hated the way his voice
sounded fuzzy in her head. All full-blood voices
sounded fuzzy to her and she knew she sounded fuzzy
to them.

~Why? You needed him.~

~I'm not full-blooded, Stealth, I'm only half. I don't
need it as bad as you.~

~It's been over a week. You promised me tonight you
would get some.~ He scowled, annoyed that she hated to
do what she had to do to survive.

She could still convey annoyance and exasperation
using her mental voice. ~Stealth, he's one of the X-
Men!~

He paused his thoughts for a moment. ~Did he know you?~

~No, he's after my time.~

~Then you should have taken him. X-Man or not, he
still has blood.~

"You know, I absolutely loathe it when you ride my
ass like this!" she suddenly exploded, out loud. "I'm
not a total incomp. There was a time in my life when
I took care of myself!"

~And look at the trouble it got you into,~ he retorted.

~Aw, I don't want to fight.~ Her anger died down as
quickly as it had flared up. ~Look, I know you're only
looking out for me, and I appreciate it. But half
vampire or not, I cannot feed off the X-Men. Never
again.~

End of Part One.

So, did I leave you hanging enough? *smile*

Author's Notes:
Musical Credits:

1: The Look was written by Per Gessie. It was made a
hit by Roxette.

2: December 1963 (Oh What A Night) is from Frankie
Valli and The Four Seasons. It takes on a whole new
meaning when a woman sings it, trust me.

3: Mother Dawn was written by Durga McBroom and
Martin Glover p/k/a "Youth." The song can be found on
the Billy Idol album Cyberpunk. If you have never
heard this song before, see if you can find a copy of
it. It is the greatest song. I am not a Billy Idol
fan, but Darqstar turned me on to this song and it's
fantastic.

4: This story is fiction. Even though there is a
character named Darkstar in it, and my friend goes by
the name Darqstar on the net, do not think I am
writing a story about her. Last time I checked,
Darqstar is not a half vampire (although she does
enjoy staying up all night.)

5: While I am using White Wolf for some of the
vampire stuff, I'm also changing things to suit my
need, so if you are a White Wolf/Vampire/The
Masquerade expert, don't be surprised to suddenly
find things becoming very different than what you
might expect.

6: I would greatly enjoy about this story.

Sincerely
JF Jackson