teddy-byrne

[teddy-byrne]

"It'll be alright." Teddy gave the officer a reassuring nod, not finding it difficult to understand his side of things or where his desire to help Louis came from. It was a noble intent, very much in Gabe's character, and Teddy...well, he wanted to believe that good could come from it too, if done properly.

Would Louis have a different opinion about the both of them when he found out the truth? And..would Elio agree to be of assistance? These and more questions formed in the Rosu's mind, giving him pause.. just not for long. As he was pulled into Gabriel, his scent and the feel of his body pressed up against his took over his entire being. Teddy was rarely speechless but the human made him so. "..mm, says he as he makes it almost impossible to want anything else." the vampire rasped, leaning against the strong fingers drapped around the back of his neck as he was kissed.

Speechless and breathless, will you look at that. Byrne got quiet as Gabe uttered those three words, invaded by an unfamiliar sense of joy and wholeness he had never felt before, and brought their foreheads together. "I love you too.." he smiled, caressing his cheek. "My human. I can't want to see what the night has in store for us."

The end.

"I understand that," Gabriel said, sighing deeply, because of course he understood that he couldn't control what Louis did with the information from his returned memories. "I just want him to make decisions based on a more informed base, you know? It's like he's been thrown into a game of poker where he can't look at his own cards."

"Oh," the disappointment was evident on Gabe's face. He had hoped that in all of this, at least deities would always protect humans against harm, but maybe it was simply that they wouldn't cause harm to humans. Teddy's next words offered some consolation in his plan not being completely hopeless, and that the deities would still be ready to help Louis. "That's true, if they're worried about what Louis knows it's better that he is guided into the supernatural society like I was, and taught the Golden rule." At the mention of Izak's name Gabe's expression soured, but he nodded in agreement. This was the vampire's mess and someone needed to make things right.

Gabe's eyebrows rose at Teddy's suggestion. In the heat of the discussion he had admittedly forgotten about their plans for the evening. What he had not forgotten was the look of Teddy's ass when he was getting dressed. He rose from the bed and swooped Teddy towards him so that their thighs pressed together.

"That is a tempting suggestion," he smiled and moved in to kiss Teddy, one hand resting at the crook of his neck. "But the bed is still going to be here later... And I'd hate to cancel our plans," he murmured as he pulled back from the kiss. His eyes looked lovingly into Teddy's eyes as he searched them for that very emotion that made him certain that the demonic soul story that Matt had told him was a load of crap. "I love you," he murmured softly.

[teddy-byrne]

[teddy-byrne]

Teddy kept his expression the same: calm, controlled..and maybe a little pleased, now that he could see the effect his words had had on the demon. He was right -it was a sensitive subject. "Yes, and I think he would much rather leave that whole thing in the past." Byrne agreed, turning a look towards the redhead, currently speaking to Louis. Someone he had learnt his partner cared for..and who should have not been..here? Wait. Why was he here? Teddy frowned and glanced back at Matthew to see if he'd noticed, too.

Tch! How annoying. Matthew's face darkened for a moment at Teddy's very obvious barb. And here Matthew thought that he was just making conversation, but that was clearly not the case.

"Oh? Good to know. I'm certain that any human Luke set his eyes on wouldn't be completely useless," the fallen deity returned, deliberately ignoring the vampire's clear disdain. "Well, he's fine right now, isn't he? He hardly needed any of my intervening. After all, he can take care of himself, can't he?"

[teddy-byrne]

The encounter felt like a dream yet again, the sight and feel of the human overwhelming every ounce of his being and numbing the fear. The fear of loosing him in the vastness of this tragedy. No, they had each other now..and they were getting out alright.. "Well, in that case..I'll consider myself rescued." Teddy huffed, allowing a faint smile to grace his lips. Before that, he'd lightly caressed his jaw, cool fingers tracing along the length of it. Call it a reassurance that he was really there, if you will.

Squeezing his grip and nodding, there wasn't much time to loose after that. The vampire turned them towards the stairs and began the descent, not looking away from the other's face for too long at a time. Because yes..as much as it pained him to leave the Shard behind and to think of the losses he already knew the clan would face, seeing Gabriel and himself to safety was all he could care about now. "..stay with me, yeah? I can feel you fading.." he kept saying. "..try to keep your eyes open."

Teddy would not know how important that would be until he picked up on a rustle of fabric not too far. A hooded silhouette against the faint light filtering through a grimy window...one of them. Fuck. The vampire hissed, stopping, and nodded towards where the figure was in hopes that Moore would notice too.

"Teddy!" the name fell like a stone in a well and echoed one last time in the stairway space. Then Gabe had to stop and cough, his muscles tensing with the motion and the pain that it sent from his shoulder and all the way down to his wounded ankle. His body begged him to lay down and curl up like a baby, but he ignored it and pushed on. Through the heat and the smoke Gabe had made out the number indicating the floor he was on - 15. This was it. A fire extinguisher hung by the door. Gabe managed to detach it, and armed with the hose he pulled up the door to the burning floor.

The air was impossibly hot on the other side of the door. The heat and light from the fire made Gabe hold up his arm to shield his face. He could make out a figure moving towards him. With terror he realized that it was another hooded stranger and this time Gabe had no strength left to fight. He aimed the fire extinguisher at them and steeled himself for the confrontation, pretty sure he was about to get his ass kicked.

It happened faster than Gabe could react, and it was too far away and obscured by smoke for him to see. The stranger was suddenly falling, his body limp and twisted. Where the stranger had stood moments ago, a darker figure loomed, and this time Gabe recognised the silhouette. Teddy. And just like that, the fear was gone.

He almost melted in Teddy's arms. His body was struggling to keep upright, favouring his right leg, and leaning on the fire extinguisher rather than holding it, but his eyes shone brightly and lucidly as they met with Teddy's. If there had been a moment to consider how much help he had really been able to offer Teddy, that moment had passed and every feeling of doubt was erased when Teddy kissed him. If it was for the last time and they would burn in the building where they had first met, it would have been worth it.

"I'm rescuing you, obviously," Gabe mumbled nonchalantly, but his voice was cracking up and he had to cough immediately after. Recovering slightly from his coughing fit Gabe pointed at the exit behind him and asked, "Now can we get the hell out of here?"

[teddy-byrne]

"..I can take a look at your control room, if your boss is keen on the idea." Teddy hoped that Rei would see his intentions for what they were - earnest. It wasn't like he didn't understand where mistrust towards his kind came from so..the Rosu was more than glad to see that he was going to be given a chance after all. "...great." he nodded, finishing his drink in one gulp. Teddy hissed at the bitter after taste and leaned forward slightly. "Curious, aren't you?" he smirked, delaying his response by a second or two. "It can be both ways. Although I will admit, it's been a minute since I've..hunted anyone in the literal sense." No. Gabriel would not like that. Lucky for Byrne, he never went without blood.. "Tell me something. Have you ever been fed from, Rei?"

"If they do, we haven't heard anything about it." That was the shit end of the stick, clean up the fires but never hear is the culprit was caught. His intent had been to vent, not seeking advice, but he wasn't stupid enough to turn down help. "I don't think I could say no to an offer like that. Appreciate it." He didn't know much about vampires and their feeding habits, spending most of his time with humans and wolves as of late. "When you say hunt, is it more of a figurative thing, or do you treat it like an actual hunt?"

[teddy-byrne]

//Cameron//

[teddy-byrne]

Teddy's eyelids trembled for a few moments while his body was still, compelled by the sound of a familiar voice echoing through the far away halway. A voice that almost felt entirely unreal..because, how else could Gabriel possibly be anywhere close right now? It was a crazy notion. Impossible to believe if it wasn't because it kept calling, successfully tugging at the Rosu's consciousness and stirring him awake. He was here. His human. He had come for him.

As his eyes snapped open, Byrne lifted a hand to his throbbing head, blinking to make the lingering blur dissipate. He must have lost consciousness and how lucky it was that he had woken up. Otherwise, he might have not made it out in time before the flames engulfed him, claiming his damned soul.

Pulling himself up on his feet then was close to the hardest thing he had done yet, but there he was, clutching on the surface of his old desk and squinting his eyes towards the billowing smoke for an escape. It came at a cost, which he paid with his own flesh -but Gabriel's voice guided him along until he was at the hallway. Once there, Teddy took to the stairs and, surely enough, came across the Artemis follower who fled the scene.

Taking advantage of the darkness and his ravenous hunger, Byrne attacked them before they could make out what was happening, ripping their throat and leaving them to die. It was a good thing, for him, at least..for it gave him some of his strength back and led him to... "Gabriel?" The moment Teddy saw him, he felt his heart drop, rushing to him immediately and framing his face.

"I got you..I-" He was hurt. He could see it, even in darkness. Shifting, the vampire wrapped his scarred arm around Gabriel's torso to provide support, and faced him.. "What the fuck are you doing here, ey? You must..be crazy to come all this way.." Crazy or..madly in love? The possibility did occur to Teddy but the depth of it would not fully hit him until hours later. All he could think of right now was that he needed to get the two of them out as soon as possible..just not without kissing him first.

"Mr Byrne, this is Grayson, do you copy?" the vampire repeated a second time into his radio. Gabe growled in frustration, "We don't have time for this." Then with a surge of strength, fuelled by adrenaline and fear of losing the love of his life, he yanked the walkie from the security guard and commanded, "Calling all units, anyone got eyes on Teddy Byrne? Over." After an eternity of silence someone replied, "Negative. Last saw him heading for his office. There are reports of trespassers. Over."

That was all the information Gabe needed. "I'm keeping this," he told the security guard in a demanding tone, "Give me your torch." The vampire seemed to have changed his mind about Gabe and was now proving to be very compliant. If the reason was that he recognised Gabe as Teddy's partner, actually wanted Teddy to receive the aide Gabe promised, or simply couldn't say no to authority, didn't bother the officer. He needed to get to his love as soon as possible, and Teddy's office was a good climb away.

Several floors up Gabe's muscles were screaming from the strain of running up the stairs and the lack of oxygen in the smoke-filled space. He was lighting his way with the flashlight, but with every step that brought him closer to the fire, his field of vision diminished. Every two floors Gabe tried to radio Teddy again, but so far he wasn't receiving any answer. "Teddy, can you hear me? I'm coming!" He pulled in a breath and felt the smoke burn his throat and make his eyes tear up. Coughing he stumbled towards the door, hoping he was on the correct floor. Before he could open it, the door burst open, knocking him off his feet.

A hooded figure loomed above him, fire and black smoke creating a hellish backdrop behind them. "Teddy?" Gabe coughed, but it clearly wasn't him. The figure tried to push Gabe out of the way, but as the door shut behind him the two men were enveloped in total darkness. In their blind struggle the two men toppled and fell down the stairs. There was an unmistakable crack of bone and Gabe felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. As they stopped rolling down, Gabe tried to orient himself and the other man, but there was no nearby sound but his own shallow breath. Feeling his way towards the flashlight Gabe bumped into the body of the stranger - it was lifeless.

"Fuck," Gabe groaned and pulled himself up to his feet, only to almost fall over again after his left foot locked itself in a gut-wrenching jolt of pain. He must have sprained his left ankle, he thought and steadied himself against the rail. Half limping, half pulling himself up by the rail of the stairs, he continued his ascent. He had lost his radio and now simply shouted, hoping the echo would carry. "Teddy! Ted- Teddy!"

[teddy-byrne]

There was no way of telling what was going on out on the streets but from all the noise and commotion, Teddy could tell that his strategy was slowly working the way it was meant to. People were getting out and their system was being restored..and he, he knew the building plan well enough to make it to his office and back. At least, that is what the Rosu chose to believe as he pressed a handkerchief against his nose and made haste through the smoke-billowed corridors, leaving the security room far behind and with it, his good chance to stay in touch with the human officer.

He needed to get to Jack's watch...he needed to get his hands on it before it was lost forever.

Stumbling through the smoke-filled maze, Byrne reached the fifteenth floor. He could hear the building groaning, metal twisting and buckling under the strain, and knew the fire was still spreading rapidly..flames ahead as he came across his office. At last. At long fucking last. The vampire kicked it open, the sudden rush of oxygen sending a fresh wave of flames licking across the room and ran to his desk. Second drawer. Under lock and key. "Shit..okay, you can do this Teddy." he swallowed.

Just as he laid eyes on the object, having yanked the drawer open, a high-pitched whine filled the air. He recognized it immediately and lunged for the door, but it was too late. A deafening BOOM ripped through the office, the force of the explosion throwing him against the wall and shattering the windows, shards of glass raining down to the street.

In the aftermath, Teddy laid there, dazed, his ears ringing. The watch is there, clutched in his hand...but he felt the worst of his injuries pinning him down..

"What do you mean? You can't stay there!" Gabe tried to understand the logic behind Teddy's words. Why was he putting his life in risk for security of an establishment that had already been breached? Wasn't it better to admit defeat and make sure everyone got out safely? Why did Teddy have to play the role of the captain that doesn't abandon the sinking ship? "Just get- hello?" The call was breaking up and Teddy's voice was disappearing until the call disconnected. "Teddy?" Silence. "Fuck!"

Gabe felt his heart drop and he slammed his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. A fire broke out on the bottom floor of a nearby building, but Gabe didn't have time to see what it was as he sped past down the street. He was passing into Hedon now, which seemed to have most of its power on. The Shard was still painfully far away. He dialed Teddy's number again but the call didn't connect. "Fuck man! Don't be a hero, Teddy, get out of there," he said to no one.

He pulled in outside the Shard with a painful screech of tires against asphalt. It looked strangely dark safe for the unmistakable glow of fire from some of its floors. Another police car was already there, although the officer was being kept away from the building by The Shard's own security. Gabe ran towards the entrance and was almost past the security when he was yanked back by strong hands. "Back off," the guard growled, "No one enters." Gabe glared at him and had to force himself not to shout, "Is Teddy Byrne, your boss, still inside? Because if he is you better let me enter or I swear if he dies in there I will fucking kill you myself."

[teddy-byrne]

Teddy should have avoided any distractions, especially right now, but there was not a fiber in his body that didn't wish to speak to the human right now. Knowing that he was fine was the exact kind of reassurance he needed. No matter how chaotic everything on the other side of that call was, he was happy that the officer had not been caught in the midst of the attacks. "..I'm okay, I think. This thing hit us out of nowhere.." More or less like everybody else, when the power was cut. Teddy swallowed, identifying the sound of tires screeching against asphalt, followed by more sirens, and the sound of police radio getting louder. "..Gabe?? You there?"

Teddy pulled the phone from his ear, not pleased to see that the connectivity was failing -hoping bad that it would hold, and swallowed thickly once he heard the human again. He was okay. He was. "Yes, I'm at the Shard." He stared back up, at the screens and shook his head as he saw the fire right outside his own office. "I can't leave, Gabriel...I'm head of security. I need..I..must handle this.. you-"

'Sir? Look..' Byrne looked up, spotting two hooded figures trying to make an exit, and knew he had to act.. but first, there was something he needed to retreive from his office. He nodded at his staff, and moved towards the door with the phone still glued to his ear. "I'll be fine, love. Gotta go."

"Hello? Teddy?" Gabe had never been more happy to hear Teddy's voice. Yet even as relief washed over him he didn't slow down. There was an evident commotion in the background and Gabe could hardly make out Teddy's words over the noise. It wasn't much better on his end with the police radio going non-stop, the sound of sirens never ceasing, only moving closer or further away. On a normal night, Gabe would have struggled to focus, but now he was more alert than he'd ever been in his life. He knew what sounds to filter out as noise, what movements in the streets to ignore and what to be careful of. Tonight, someone had launched an attack at their community, and Gabe was ready to fight to defend it.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," he replied, eyes focused on the road and anything moving on its sides. "Are you alright? Listen-" a car came out of nowhere and Gabe had to veer to the side to avoid hitting it. The traffic lights weren't working, but he didn't have time to check every turn for traffic. He turned on his sirens and hoped other people had more sense. "Can you still hear me? Are you at the Shard? We've got reports of a fire in the building. I'm on my way but you need to get out of there! I think it's another Artemis attack."

[teddy-byrne]

From the control room, Teddy stood hunched over the dashboard, staring at the security cameras. His trained eyes scanned through the images, looking for any telltale signs of a breach and building a contingency strategy beyond the established procedures. Ever since the clips surfaced on January 1st, Rosu had doubled their security efforts but even with multiple layers, Artemis' people had somehow found a fault in their system, acting persistently enough to undermine access..and create a window of time to set fire to the building.

Clearing his throat as his people gathered around, Byrne sent out a message through their radios. "Benjamin, I need your team to escort our donors outside, make sure nobody gets injured, alrite? Ursula..yours will handle the Rubiccund.." 'Already on it, sir!' the vampires' voices echoed in unison, prompting a nod from Teddy. "..and James? I need everybody accounted for...check credentials, make sure there are no infiltrators among us. Anybody look suspicious you bring them to the headquarters. All of you, remember to report back as soon as you get anything for me...I trust your judgement; we've been through this a thousand times, we can handle this.. but we can't afford to miss right now, you hear me? This is Artemis we're talking about..they got the means to hurt us. Now, GO!"

Teddy wiped the sweat off his forhead, squeezing the edge of the table, when he felt his phone buzzing again in his pocket. At first he thought it was his radio but..looking down once was enough to realize it was not. This was Gabriel.. God his mind had been going a mile a minute.."..g-gabriel..? You okay?" The alarm was blaring in the background, a commotion of voices and rushing through corridors making it difficult for his voice to carry through as he cast a glance over his shoulder, back at the monitors and at the few members of staff gathering data around him. "..I don't know how long I can talk."

Lifeline | Teddy & Gabe

This had not been his Friday night plan. By rights, he should have been at home by now, for once enjoying that he wasn't on the night shift. But whatever hellish force was behind the chaos in Chissob Hills had other plans. The power had gone out just as Gabe had been clocking out, and he had immediately been put on extra duty to help uphold law and order as anarchy seemed to spread through the city at a nightmarish rate.

And as he dreamily thought of cuddling next to Teddy on their couch, he had to remind himself that the citizens of VC were in danger, scared, exposed and most of them without power. He worked with the other policemen as they tried and failed to stop vandalism and fire from happening at each corner. The radio was buzzing non-stop with new reports from all over the city. Suddenly he picked out "-904B identified at The Shard..." Gabe felt his insides grow cold. A fire at The Shard? With the fire brigade already having their hands full in other places. He realized he hadn't given Teddy more than a quick text saying "Shitstorm in CH. Stuck at work.", not thinking about checking in on him. He hadn't even considered that Teddy might be in danger.

Chastising himself for not realizing that this chaos was most likely a coordinated attack by Artemis he hurried to his police car. "Officer Moore responding to the 904B in Hedon. I'm in Chissob Hills but I'm on my way," he radioed to central. The car was already in second gear before he got the green light to proceed. Then he picked up his phone and called Teddy. "Please pick up, please pick up..."

@teddy-byrne

[teddy-byrne]

"Yeah," Teddy drawled out before his eyes narrowed, "He's great. Makes me happy. You know what that feels like, don't you? -or well, used to, anyway." It was not something the vampire was particularly proud of, to tug at a sensitive topic, but he didn't appreciate Matthew's tone. And the, of course, was ..what the hell was that? "Gabriel is talking to some people and he can take care of himself. I'm his boyfriend, not his guardian. That part is Luke's job who, by the way, I hear asked you to look after him whilst he was gone? Good job on that."

"Ah. I see," Matthew nodded, knowing exactly what the problem was by now. Luke had somehow decided to take the human under his wing and in doing so, seemed to have started treating him as a pseudo-son of sorts. That was as much as Matthew could tell.

"All this fighting over a human. He must be a really special one to get the two of you up in arms," the fallen deity chuckled. This conversation was much more preferable. "Where is our dear Gabriel anyway? Did you set him loose all by himself in this manor? Something could happen to him, you know..."

[teddy-byrne]

"..I shouldn't enjoy it when you pretend to know me, but I do. I guess you're not wrong." Good boy, he had wanted to say, but he'd held back. Pressing down the glass of whiskey onto the side table, Teddy proceeded to nod and smiled as Chris pretty much confirmed he would be joining them - Judas accepting, of course. Can't forget that part. "I'll be waiting, then. But do text me with a heads up if you're not, yeah? I have things to do."

"Maybe not, but if I just said yes without asking, you'd probably scold me for accepting without knowing what I'm getting into." Chris countered, he'd gotten pretty good at figuring out no win situations. 'Preserve our species' huh? There was a whole existential rabbit hole that Chris could jump down with that, but he set it aside for the time being. "Luckily I'm a better scientist than I am a vampire, so I've got plenty of stuff to talk about there." He still worried about joining, but was pretty sure Teddy didn't want to hear about it all. "So I guess I'll call Judas after I leave you, then I'll come in tomorrow for the contract."

[teddy-byrne]

"Good. Because I also don't want you to owe anyone anything...if it ever comes to that, I will take that part of the deal, yes?"

The look on the human's face was a priceless one, almost making Byrne regret getting dressed so quickly, but alas..what was done was done. He sensed none of the doubt, though he imagined his behavior did sound some alarms. Vicente had done everything right by him, making him one of the few lucky vampires who accepted his own nature. Teddy was not so old that he had forgotten his humanity but he had learnt to disassociate himself from humans - Gabriel being his one weakness in a very, very long time.

"No. I don't think it is, actually...but Elio seems agreeable enough. If you ask me, it's all about how you choose to say it - make them believe it is putting every single one of us in danger, if Louis chooses to share what he knows." Deities like Elio retained some morality but the old association of their kind with angels was questionable at best. Maybe, he simply couldn't bring himself to trust a being that was billion of years old. "Mention Izak, too. If they hear it is our fault, it's more likely that they'll strive to right their wrong." Gabriel would hate it if he told him but, Izak's name still had some value in their world, opening doors..causing things to happen.

Smoothing the fabric of his shirt, the Rosu crossed the room back and picked up his watch from their nightstand, his blue eyes reflecting the light. "..so, what do you want to do now? Should we go out or..hop back into bed?" he teased.

That hesitation spoke volumes about Teddy's feelings on meddling in Izak's, albeit abandoned, affairs. Gabe waited silently, searching Teddy's eyes, and when he finally got the reassurance from Teddy he smiled. And it was not without pride that he looked at his boyfriend, who was choosing to help Gabe over blind loyalty to his grandsire.

"It's unusual because it's never been in the interest of the supernatural community for humans to remember what they shouldn't know about," Gabe replied dryly, letting his bitterness over this fact shine through. "We'll take care of him to make sure it doesn't harm him," Gabe assured Teddy and putting a hand on top of Teddy's hand added, "And none of this is going to get back at me. It'll be alright."

For a moment he was distracted by Teddy's towel-less body, watching the muscles play under the skin as he moved to put on clothes. He was perfect, Gabe thought not for the first time, and yet a dark part of his mind wondered if that perfection had a price. Was it really only loyalty to vampires that made Teddy reluctant to help Louis remember, or was there a lack of understanding, a distance from the human perspective that he would never get back? "Hm... Strategy?" Gabe replied dazedly, moving his gaze up to Teddy's face and trying to focus on the conversation again. "I know a deity. Two actually, but one of them was more forthcoming with providing help. If I reach out to them... I'm thinking I'll just put it plainly - a human had his memories stolen and it's putting him in danger. It's their duty to protect humans, isn't it?" he looked questioningly at Teddy, waiting to hear what the other had to say about his haphazard strategy. Gabe had never been one for planning his moves ahead of time.

[teddy-byrne]

"Oh." Teddy mused, genuinely surprised that anyone would find purpose in performing such acts of vandalism. Rei was clearly not amused, and who could blame him. "I'm guessing the security cameras outside don't catch anything? I could..provide some tips, if you're open. After all, I do work security at the Shard." It was an offer. Common courtesy, if you will, but the vampire meant it, a faint smirk reappearing on his face at the witch's assumptions about his feeding preferences. "Sure. When you just want to drink from them -but with the blood shortage over, I can be..more selective. Enjoy variety. And that is without factoring in the hunt. Most of us vampires like to earn our meal."

"Literal garbage can fires. Some punk keeps going around lighting people's garbage on fire. I've put out 3 today alone." If he ever got his hands on the idiots doing it, they would pray for death. Even so, Rei would rather complain about work than talk about his family drama any more than a passing comment. "Isn't anyone with a heartbeat interesting when you just want to drink from them?" he countered, his comment just a comment with no malicious intent behind it.

[teddy-byrne]

「 Cillian Murphy - portrait shoot in London, 2007 」

[teddy-byrne]

From Caia

A hand-packed bag of various chocolates sits on Teddy’s desk with a note that reads ‘Happy friendship, Class President. My mom made me do this. From, Caia.’

“How sweet. Say thank you to your mom for me, Caia.”

[teddy-byrne]

Happy Valentine’s Day, Big Shot. Hope you can back up the big game you talked.

Daphne