For a moonlight stroll (James and Maria)

James sighed happily as he wandered along the water's edge as the moonlight hit the water's gentle surface, sparkling back at him. Moments like this, moments of true tranquility and serenity, were far too rare for his liking. Especially for him.

With a brother like Jack, a lover like Aurelia and a cause as ambitious as Rebellion, his life lacked both tranquility and serenity. The only exception being when it was just him and Aurelia curled up together alone somewhere, justing being together.

Skimming a rock across the water's surface, James paused a little bit and just breathed. Really breathed. He loved the smell of somewhere fresh and this was about as fresh as it got.

Maria gently strode through the woods surrounding Sailors End, although she was away from Leon for some time now, having taken a trip to England to meet her sire once more, she had decided that she would still take some time out to be with herself, she needed to think upon what was happening in the realm of the creatures.

What with Charlie now trying to lead a rebellion against the British, Maria knew that she would be called upon to join and she neither felt the need to or wanted to, but she felt duty bound out of her friendship with Charlie. When she stepped out from behind the trees she spotted another man, gasped quietly and hid behind the trees again.

He looked just like the one that Charlie had warned her about, if her heart could have beat, it would have been going ten to the dozen, and she squeezed her eyes closed, frightened.

James was casually throwing stones over the water, skimming the surface easily, when he heard a gasp and a few twigs breaking. Blinking, he looked over to where the sound had come from. Deciding to appear as unthreatening as possible, he dropped the small stones he'd collected for skimming across the water,

"Hey over ter!" he greeted the unseen person with a smile, "I hear' yer over ter. Yer can come on ou' if yer wan', I'm no' abou' te hur' yer."

He sat down on a rock by the water's edge and began to idly skim more rocks across the smooth water surface,

"Noting better tan a walk in te moonligh' righ'?"

Maria bit her lip hard when the man started talking to her, maybe he was trying to trick her into coming out so then he could stake her or something like that, maybe he just wanted to see how many different ways he could make her trust him and then kill her regardless!

Poking her head from around the tree trunk, Maria readied herself to flit away as soon as the answer to this question came, if it was the wrong name then she would just run, but if it was right she would apologise and come out to talk properly.

"W-what's your name?" she asked, quieter than she had first hoped for, and then she coughed a little before repeating "W-which one of the twins are you?!"

Hoping that it would be the right answer, Maria waited with baited breath.

James cast a curious glance over at the woman when she merely poked her head around the trunk of a tree and looked at him. Oh she was going to be a strange one he could just tell. When she demanded to know who he was he chuckled a little bit,

"Ah tha's a fine way te say hello." he joked with her, teasing her, before he grinned, "Me names James. Wha's yers?"

When she asked which one of the twins he was, James immediately knew why she was asking. His once happy and light mood became depressed very quickly,

"I'm James don' worry." he answered with a sigh before frowning, "Why de yer even nee' te ask? We're not identical yer know."

Maria smiled gently and she stepped out from behind the tree, you could see quite clearly now that she was a vampire and she was relieved that the twin that she was talking to was James, not Jack, because she would probably be in a lot of pain if it was the latter.

"My name is Maria Arceneau, it is a pleasure to meet you monsieur." she greeted with a happy smile on her lips and a small bow to the man in front of her, the French accent tinging her speech.

When he seemed to be less than happy that she had decided to ask him which twin it was, Maria frowned lightly, she didn't know what they looked like exactly did they? She was lucky enough that she knew about Jack in the first place!

"Well I apologise but I didn't really know that did I?" she asked with a small pout "When your life is at stake you want to be sure!" Maria protested.

As soon as she walked out from behind the tree James became aware of why she was so interested in which twin he was. Her pale skin gave away that she was a vampire. And no vampire in their right mind would want to go after Jack since he'd been shown to be so good at killing them all by himself,

"Nice te mee' yer Maria." he greeted her in return before chuckling a little bit and shaking his head, "I don' surpose yer can say te same considerin who me brother is huh?"

James held up his hands in surrender. The woman had a point. Skimming another stone across the water, he smiled faintly,

"I take it yer spoken te Charlie." he suddenly grinned at her, "She's te only one who's met us both at te same time after all. So she'd be te one te tell yer who's te nice one fer sure."

Maria smiled gently and she giggled when James told her that she couldn't say that it was nice to meet him, when she just had said that she was happy to make his acquaintence, although she supposed that it would slip his mind if he had other things to think about.

"I did just say that I was pleased to meet you James." she giggled again "After all I know that the deeds of your brother are not your own, however much others disagree with me."

When he mentioned Charlie, Maria nodded her head and she sighed a little bit, it really was something that she felt weighing down on her and she stepped closer to the man, away from her protection in the foliage of the trees she was hid behind.

"I have spoken to Charlie indeed, I am confused as to what I should do about what she spoke to me about however, I take it you know what she is up to?" she asked with a small smile.

James could tell that his initial assement was correct, Maria was a strange on if the giggling like a schoolgirl was any indication. Chuckling a little bit, he shook his head,

"Yea well yer'd be surprised how many people say tha te me but don' mean it anymore." he told her with a small smirk before he raised an eyebrow, "Tey tink we're te same kinda people huh? Well tha's wrong. I ain't noting like me brother."

Seeing Maria step out from the cover of the trees he couldn't help but tease her, "Careful ter Maria, I'm a wild beas' like me brother remember? I migh' bite yer. Though tha seems more yer area tan mine."

James sighed a little bit as any semblence of tranquility and serenity was washed away. He threw another rock at the water but this one didn't skim, it just sank. Pausing for a moment, he nodded,

"Yea. She's callin on as many creatures as possible..." he threw the last rock as far across the water as he could, "Wit te intention o' killin me brother. An' me country. How de yer feel abou' tha Maria?"

Maria smiled gently, she was sure that the people who thought badly of James were wrong, she could tell from meeting him now that he was different, he wasn't being very mean to her and he hadn't hurt her yet, she wondered if this was because he knew who she was, or if he was really this neutral.

"Yes they do, but I don't so don't you worry about that." she smiled gently "And I hope that in time they will see that they were wrong to judge you without knowing you first. I am glad I got this chance to meet you."

When James told her that he was a wild beast, Maria bit her lip and hesitated, she wondered if he was joking or not, when it turned out he was she smiled, probably looking more than a little relieved than she should have done.

Nodding her head, Maria smiled a little sadly this time;

"I do not wish to join the fight, I hope to avoid fighting altogether and remain neutral as we have so often done in the battles between human nations. But no, they just want to kill the rebels mostly...at least, Charlie does."

James gave Maria a small smile before turning back to skimming rocks. It was nice to know that at least some people didn't think him a monster because of what his brother had done. Although he had to admit that Maria was a minority to be sure. He sighed a little bit,

"Well tanks fer takin te chance to ge' te know me a little before yer made up yer mind." he told her with a smile before chuckling slightly, bitterly, "Don' tink many others will do te same though Maria."

Even though Maria looked more afraid, and then relieved, than amused he had to smile. It was rather amusing to scare a vampire with the threat of using some teeth. Rather ironic in his mind. James shrugged a little bit,

"People wan' war far too often Maria but tey get it. Yer've bee' aroun' a long time righ'? All peoples wan' war at some point an' te creatures see tha time as now wit Charlie pushin tem." he reasoned before he became quiet. After a long time he spoke, "If Charlie leads her followers agains' me country... agains' me people... I'll figh' her. An' anyone who follows her."

Maria blinked a little bit and she sighed, sitting down on a nearby rock, it was horrible that people would think so badly of James because of who he was related to, although they were narrowminded, she had hoped their advanced years would have taught them not to be.

"Well they shouldn't, it's very rude, and someone as old as I am should know they shouldn't be swayed by one persons point of view it's often a bad choice." she sighed gently "The circumstances being as they are, I can't help you with Charlie,...she's...it's like shes just snapped."

With a small groan of frustration, Maria wondered what Leon had done, getting this vampire to work for the German ministry, she knew that Charlie now would hold no loyalty for any human, only to her fellow creatures.

"You humans are so aggrivating!" she sighed gently "You can't just throw your life away because of something like this, you have every chance not to fight, every chance yet you'll just fight and die anyway. Because when you fight, I know you will perish for sure!" Maria cried out.

James thought it rather stupid that people with many lifetimes to overcome their human failings seemed to only grow worse. But maybe that was just all part of being human? He didn't know. Wasn't his place to decide and it was beyond his reasoning. He never took philosophy after all,

"Well it helps tha' te one person is Charlie. Very influential in yer community righ'? A real ol' vampire if I remember." he observed quietly, "Yea well te huma' race done some evil shi' te vampires. Maybe Jack was jus' te straw tha' broke te camel's back or someting?"

When she said that humans were aggrivating, James laughed a little bit. It was one of their defining features he supposed but that didn't make it any easier to work past,

"Ah well tha' means tha' yer are too." he teased before he became serious, "If tey attack I won' figh' fer me Maria. I won' figh' jus' te live an' I won' figh' jus' te win. I'll figh' so tha others don' have to. So tha others will be safe."

Maria nodded her head with a rather sad look on her face, it was because Charlie was so old and so dangerous even to vampires that she had so many followers, especially the younger vampires who were filled with bloodlust and the desire to fight anything and everything.

"Yes she is a very ancient vampire...although know that me and my sire are remaining neutral, or if anything, are on your side, but hush don't tell Leon that." she smiled lightly "It's unfair having you punished for Jacks misdeeds, he should face them alone.

With a small sigh on her lips, Maria massaged her temples, more a force of habit because she couldn't actually get a headache, it was most frustrating that James took this stance, why wouldn't he just protect what he had and be happy?!

"Once Charlie gets her targets, I am hoping that she will calm down once more, or that the other elder vampires will at least seek to contain her, your stubborness will be the end of you James, just leave and be happy with your life as it is, let me worry about my problems and my loves without having you popping up in my mind."