Marcus laughed, "What makes me a Slytherin indeed..... Perhaps my cunning more than my ambition. Although i am ambitious in certain...asspects....of my life. I certainly like a challenge and i am more than willing to learn. But i'm not brave and although i am reasonably clever, i'm not amazingly so. My loyalty lies with myself; I wouldn't betray a close friend but i have betrayed people in the past." He paused and thought for a moment, "Perhaps Slytherin is just where i fit. We do have a bad reputation after all."

"And you think you're...bad, do you?" she asked in a low voice, smirking as she moved a little closer to him in the tiny windowsill. Her hand brushed against his by accident, and she fought the urge to slip it into his palm, and slot their fingers together. No. That's not what Marcus liked, he made that perfectly clear. His loyalty lies with himself, does it? I thought...just for a moment...I might have a tiny part of that? No; don't be stupid! He's just one of those 'lone wolves'. Don't be so silly and romantic. She smiled again, hiding her thoughts, and looked up at him, absently running her tongue along her top lip, yet not disturbing the perfect red lipstick there.

[Lone wolf - lol!]

Marcus smirked, "You don't know the half of it...." His eyes flickered to their hands touching briefly. He was suprised when he started to mourn the loss of her touch. It had only been a second or so, but the warmth, the feelings, that circled his body, almost overwhelming [spl] him. He covered up his thoughts with a smile, although his eyes moved to her lips.

[hehehehehe XD]

She laughed, her smile spreading across her face and warming her pale complexion. "I don't think you're as self-centred as you like people to think, you know," she murmured, resting her head on his shoulder for no apparent reason. "You're just scared that if people know too much about you, they'll use it against you. Am I right?" She spoke dreamily - it was in these, bizarre, trance-like states when she came to her full analytical powers of finding out how people worked; a skill she had inherited from her father.

Marcus was shocked by how right she was. A cold smile spread across his face, "Secrets are better left untold, hidden in the past. But when people become too close, the urge to spill those secrets is strong. You think you can trust people, but even the person you love can go behind your back. I stay away from people because of this fact," he said, bitterly.

"So you've had bad experiences with love in the past. So what?" she shrugged, stepping away from the window. "So have I - you'd think that from the things that have happened to me, I'd never want to even touch a man again. But I do. I'm just a hopeless romantic, who has the strange notion that if she gives a man everything he wants, that's love." She sighed, shaking her hair from her face as a small breeze played with the bottom of her skirt.

Marcus turned to look at Rose, "No, not just love. People who were my friends have betrayed me as well." He paused and regarded her, "Men are jerks, i'm willing to admit that. Most men think with their dicks and not their minds. When they look at a girl, they see her body, her breasts, her thighs, but not her mind, her personality." He shook his head and sighed, "We run away from comitment."

"And are you 'most men'?" she asked, turning to him. Of course he was - after what happened the first night they met, of course he was. But whether he saw himself as 'most men' or not was a different matter. "When you first met me, what did you see? Did you see a wonderful, beautiful girl?" she asked sarcastically, "Or did you see a girl who would be up for a bit of fun? You don't have to lie to me - I'd rather you didn't. I've had enough lies to last me several lifetimes."

Marcus smiled, "I saw a beautiful girl who wanted exactly what i wanted. I saw a girl who was willing to sleep with a stranger, a girl who wouldn't ask for comitment. She was a marvelous [spl] girl who seemed to know exactly what i wanted." He paused for a moment, "I do consider myself as 'most men', although i have been known in the past to be excluded from this group."

She nodded, half upset, but curiously pleased at his honesty all the same. There had been some part of her which had wondered if he'd loved her at first sight, but she knew that was far, far, far from the truth. "I see. Well then, what would 'most men' like to do now?" she asked, moving a little closer to him, all thoughts of her letter home forgotten.

Marcus raised an eyebrow then smirked at her, "I'm sure you know what most men would want.... Most men would want you in their arms right now, perferably naked, of course." He smirked and moved closer to her as well, tucking a stray hair behind her ear with one hand. "Of course, the men who aren't included in 'most men' would want to talk to you about your life, or how you are feeling..."

Well, she certainly didn't want to do the latter. Instead of answering, she wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoes as her skirt rode up a little and her chest pressed lightly against his. Talking about her life... Surely he didn't want to do that? Even she didn't want to do that, and it was her life. And as for how she was feeling, well, it took up too many words to describe even the simplest of emotions, let alone the confusing ones she had now.

He smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist, "I didn't think you would want to do that, although i am sure you have a very interesting life." He leant forward and kissed her neck, biting the soft skin gently with his teeth. Perhaps one day he would not be 'most men', but that day hadn't arrived yet and he would have his fun before that day came.

"Maybe I'm just too predictable for you," she murmured, biting her lip to stifle any vocal response to his kisses. "Do you...think...I'm predictable?" she asked as her own lips got to work on his neck. It would just be a little bit of messing around while the room was empty - nothing more. It was just a little joke; they'd try and push each other further and further and see who gave in and needed the release first. That's how it always went - with most men, anyway.

Marcus smirked, "Mmmm....sometimes... Although other times you seem extremely unpredictable." He wondered what would happen tonight, if they met again, which they most likely would. It was a rather nice arrangement which they seemed to have started. Getting exactly what they wanted, and no more. He liked it that way.

Sammael wandered up the stairs to the Owlery. He was searching for Rose, looking in all of her favourite hide-outs. He paused and sniffed the air before entering, a smile hitting his face as he caught Rose's scent then being wiped away by another scent. He frowned and pushed open the door. With lightening quick speed, he grabbed ahold of Marcus' chin, pushing him up against the wall, his eyes blazing. "What are you doing?" he hissed, his lips curling back over his teeth. He ignored Rose, focusing on the man infront of him, the man who had been kissing Rose. His Rose.

"Sammael!" Rose cried, pulling at his shoulder as Marcus' back hit the wall with a horrible thud. "Stop it! Put him down!" She shot a desperate, apologetic look at Marcus. If only I could have told you - but I didn't want to ruin everything. I should have known he'd choose a time like know to get possessive... Heaven knows he never usually cares this much. "Sammael, please!" Her voice cracked as she half-screamed the words, knowing full well what the consequences of this fight would undoubtedly be. "Please..." The word was a mere whisper as she ducked under Sammael's arm to stand between him and his new opponent, begging him silently with her deep, dark eyes to just let it go...

Marcus gasped, taken completely by suprise. He felt the icy cold grip of this person's hand around his neck. His eyes flickered to Rose before they were forced to look back at the piercing blue ones of the man infront of him. "Rose?" he spluttered, confused by the situation. 'Who is Sammael? Why is he attacking me?' he thought. He reached up with his hands, trying to pry away Sammael's but they had a vice-like grip on his neck. He knew that they had the power to crush but he hoped that Rose or himself would be able to stop that from happening.

Sammael glared at the boy, his hand tightened slightly around his neck. He looked down at Rose and sneered, "Why should I? I have never gone behind your back, Rose, why should you have the right to go behind mine?!" He growled again, his cold eyes flicking back to Marcus and narrowing. With his other hand, he pushed Rose away, perhaps with a little too much force, and stepped closer to Marcus.

Rose almost fell over completely, but she kept her balance at the last moment and caught the corner of the table before she hit the floor. "Please! Just leave him alone!" she cried at the top of her voice, again grabbing at Sammael's shoulder. She swallowed hard, unable to believe these words were about to come out of her mouth. "He means nothing to me. Nothing at all. I love you, Sammael. He tricked me, that's all." She couldn't bear to even look at Marcus; so painful were those words. It was true, she did care deeply about Sammael - more deeply than was healthy - but to say Marcus meant nothing to her was an entirely different matter. "Please, Sammael..." she whispered, clinging to his spare arm and holding it tightly to her chest in the vague hope that this sort of physical contact might either turn his violence on herself or make him forget that he was meant to be hurting Marcus.