Fantasy Blood ties (Closed)

[Wonderkind]

Step one: look kind of clueless and vulnerable alone after dark. Anika had that routine down pat by now. They just couldn’t help themselves in the end. She walked slowly down the street as the sounds of night life invaded her ears. She appeared nonchalant, a well-trained poker face, but her eyes were alert, sweeping from one side of the street to the other. A couple passed by so close that she had to sidestep. Both were laughing: the woman clinging to the man’s arm like it was the only thing keeping her standing. Anika’s eyes followed them for a short while before she turned back towards where she had been going. Not what she was looking for. There weren’t really many ways to be exactly sure until they were fangs in your face. But she’d gotten a sense for them. Something about their body language and the way they would look at you. It would send the hairs of the back of her neck standing on edge in warning.

A few bars down the street. A Chinese restaurant. Possibly an office building. There was nothing sinister about the area. It was fairly well trafficked too. Could she have been mistaken? No… something was hunting around here. She was sure of that. Three disappearances in the past few months. The thing was covering its tracks but not well enough. One of the bodies had been found just a few days ago. Throat cut, a classic move. Cause enough damage and they won’t find the bite marks. Anika came to a stop in front of a building and glanced at its facade. The sign announced the place as Liberty Inn. She sighed and pulled out her phone.

“Come on. I know you’re here”, she muttered to herself. This could take all night.

It ended up being only half an hour or so.

“Do you need help?” a voice asked. The tone was pleasant. Conversational. Anika’s eyes flicked up from her phone. The man standing there looked harmless enough. He was well dressed in jeans and a black jacket. Chestnut brown hair was combed back in a neat manner. He was smiling at her.

“I just noticed that you’ve been standing here by yourself”, he continued. It made sense he would have been watching her for a while. Waiting to see if she was truly alone. And there it was. That gleam in his gaze as it lingered just a moment too long on her exposed neck. Showtime.

“I was supposed to meet someone. But I guess he stood me up”, Anika said, pouting her lips ever so slightly.

“Wow. I’m sorry. Only an idiot would stand up a girl like you”, he grinned at her and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she kept the pout on her face.

“I dressed up and everything!”

Fighting in a dress wasn’t her ideal choice but it was needed to sell the lie. High heels would have really been the cherry on top but that just seemed like asking for trouble. In sneakers she could at least run if she needed to.

“Well… my night is free. I’d love to show you around. Wouldn’t want the dress to go to waste”, the man said and Anika smiled. He was taking the bait.

“Really? You’re too sweet!” she beamed at him as if spending the night together was the best thing that could have possibly happened to her. In other cases, she might have taken it slower, acted harder to get, but she figured he’d be too thirsty by now to question why this was so easy. She was right.

“Follow me.”

They walked in silence for a while as he left the main street. She could sense the urgency wafting off him in waves and it made her stomach turn. They turned to a smaller side street and the sounds of traffic grew more distant. Anika took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come. The stake was just there, hidden on the inside of her jean jacket. Its shape felt familiar and reassuring. In her light pink, rather innocent looking small backpack she carried a few more just in case.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked with a giggle that made her die a little inside. But she needed him relaxed, sure of himself.

“Somewhere we can have a good time”, he glanced back at her with a grin that could only be described as seedy.

“Oh how mysterious!” she batted her eyelashes at him. He was taking her away from the main road, probably to an alleyway with only one exit. Screams would echo here so he would need to silence her quickly. If he got her pinned it would be game over. She would need to be quicker. Down one small street, then another. Then he led her down the alley. Anika’s body tensed, anticipating the moment. If she timed it right, there wouldn’t even be a fight.

“Down here”, he was breathing heavier now. Anika stopped and pushed her hands into her jacket with a mock shiver like she was cold.

“Come on”, he was beckoning her now, the smile long gone. She took a few steps closer, hesitantly at first like she was shy to close the distance between them.

“Sure… Just one thing”, Anika lunged forward without warning, the stake gripped in her hand. She crashed into him, the stake plunging right into its target. The vampire’s eyes widened in a mix of surprise and pain. His jaw opened and closed a few times in rapid succession.

“Hunter”, he gargled, blood now pooling out the side of his mouth. His arm lashed out, sharp nails extended, but she pushed the stake deeper and his arm dropped back to his side.

“What gave it away?” Anika asked dryly as he fell to his knees in front of her. He clawed feebly at his chest but it was too late for him now. She’d pushed it deep enough to destroy whatever heart he had left in there. She watched the life fade from his eyes and the thing crashed to the ground with an unceremonious thud. She waited a few seconds, her heart beating wildly in her chest, just to make sure. The thing was dead. All she needed to do now was move his body somewhere it wouldn’t be seen from the mouth of the alley. It would be gone by morning. She bent down to grab the vampire by the shoulders.

There wasn’t much warning at all. Only the slightest shuffle of shoes on concrete. She heard it, she sprung herself forward to dodge. But just a little too late. Something sharp ripped through the fabric of her jacket, right through the dress and into her side. She spun from the impact and slammed into the wall. There was a sickening crack and she doubled over. Little black spots danced in her vision, threatening to take over and rob her of her consciousness. She sucked in air through her teeth, fighting back the flood of pain and nausea. If she fainted now, she was as good as dead.

“You heard me coming. Impressive”, the man said with a smile. He stood next to the vampire Anika had just staked, his right hand covered in her blood. There were two of these fuckers. She should have been more careful, should have considered this possibility. She struggled to stand up straight as her side screamed in protest. The man glanced down at the dead vampire, his face impassive.

“I guess he had it coming. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, that one”, he said. His lips curved into a lopsided smile. Anika kept her eyes on him as she slid the small knife tucked away in her sleeve into her palm. Her mind was running a million miles an hour. She wouldn’t win a fight in this state. She needed to incapacitate him for just long enough. Adrenaline started to rush through her body. The pain is in your mind, get past it.
The man lifted his hand to his mouth, licking her blood off his fingers. Her stomach turned in disgust. He grinned at her with bloody teeth as he sauntered closer like a lion cornering a wounded gazelle. He thought he had her. A reasonable assumption given her condition. Anika knew she couldn’t kill him with this knife. It would have to be plan B.
She screamed, both in frustration and pain, as he plunged the knife right into the man’s eye down to the hilt. He howled in agony and staggered back, his hands flying to his face. Anika didn’t waste a second. She took off running towards the mouth of the alley even as pain ripped through her entire being.

“Bitch!” his enraged roar followed her, the scream echoing off the walls, making it sound like there were a dozen of him back there. He could come after her, she knew that. He probably would after he got that knife out. She ran blindly, her legs nearly failing under her several times. She clutched her side, painfully aware that she was losing too much blood.

Finally she collapsed, her legs refusing to carry her any further. Anika crawled to hide behind a dumpster, placing her back against the wall. She gritted her teeth to suppress the whimper of pain that threatened to escape her mouth. She could hear a car going by. Sounds of cheerful chatter somewhere from the other side of the building were just barely audible. She was so close to safety and yet so far from it. Anika glanced down at her ribcage. The fabric was so saturated with blood that it was impossible to tell exactly how bad the wound was. She pressed down ever so slightly with her finger and had to clasp her other hand over her mouth to muffle the scream. Her rib was almost definitely broken.

He will be able to smell the blood. He’ll know where I am. The thoughts came, declaring just how dire her situation was. With a pained groan she struggled her backpack off and pulled out a t-shirt. She pressed it to her wound even if doing so made her want to vomit. There was no time to dress the wound but she couldn’t afford to pass out now either. With her free hand she pulled out another stake.

“Shit shit shit”, she muttered as she strained her ears to hear if the monster was approaching.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elysium was reasonably busy for a Thursday night. They’d only been open for a few hours at this point so it would probably pick up as they neared midnight. Not that Elio minded the quieter times. Weekends were busy enough that he rarely saw his bed before the small hours. He took a sip of his soda and closed his eyes, leaning his back onto the counter behind him. Some pop song that he had forgotten the name of sounded from the speakers. Loud enough to create an atmosphere but not drown out the conversation.

“It’s only a few hours into your shift and you’re already slacking off?”

Elio opened his eyes lazily and glanced to his side only to find Jack grinning at him from behind the counter. The owner of Elysium hardly dressed up for the part. He was wearing only a dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar and dark jeans. Not that he really needed to impress anyone, the patrons weren’t there to look at him. He had a full roster of people working for him to keep them plenty distracted.

“Just taking a breather boss”, he replied unconcerned. The two had been friends since the first year of college and Jack would let him get away with nearly anything, Elio knew that much. Not that he didn’t bring in enough money to earn that privilege.

“Who are you avoiding?” Jack asked as he leaned in conspiratorially. He knew Elio too well. Elio searched the club space in front of him, his eyes jumping from one table to the other. About half of the luxurious black leather sofas were filled with people. Finally he spotted Ethan and the brunette he had pawned off on the guy. Ethan was one of the newer hires and eager to start building his own client base. That woman was one Elio wouldn’t have minded him stealing. He nodded his head towards the couple.

“The one that looks like a housewife?”

“She is a housewife. Her husband doesn’t know she comes here. He thinks the money goes to spa treatments.”

Jack let out a low whistle and chuckled. Elio knew he shouldn’t have really been talking about that stuff. And he wouldn’t have, if it had been anyone but Jack. Jack cared too much for his club to risk offending his clients’ privacy. Anything Elio said would never leave his confidence. It was quite amazing, the kind of things women would tell him, as he coaxed them to buy overpriced champagne and bottles of wine. He didn’t mind listening to them most of the time. All he had to do was smile gently, nod his head like he understood, offer a few words of encouragement. He was happy to do so but sometimes he couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t him they should have been talking to.

“Any problems?” Jack asked and Elio considered for a moment before shaking his head.

“No… not really. She is getting a bit attached but I can handle it” he assured his friend. Their job tiptoed a fine line most of the time. Their mission was to make the clients feel special, appreciated. Show them a good time so they would keep coming back and spending their hard-earned money. But it was all a fantasy at the end of the day. There were always a few who inevitably forgot that fact.

“Just let me know if I need to step in, alright?” Jack patted him on the shoulder and Elio nodded. He downed the rest of his soda and placed the glass on the counter. Soon enough he would be nursing another glass of wine. At this point he had mastered the art of making it seem like he was drinking just as much as the women were. It was a skill you needed in this place if you didn’t want to get absolutely plastered night after night. So much of his job was pretending and yet a part of him enjoyed that.

“Sometimes I think we might be bad people”, he said with a wry smile to show Jack he wasn’t being all that serious as he said this. Jack rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the counter to stand upright.

“Have a moral crisis in your own time. Now get back out there and make some money.”

Elio chuckled at his friend’s retreating form and pushed a hand through his hair.

“Will do.”

 

[Lucyfer]

It had been a long week for Caspian Ivers.

Someone out there, someone meant to be under control, was out killing humans. It was a vampire. He’d brought his complaints up to the leadership in the town, but he was dismissed. They were handling it.

‘It’s drawing a hunter presence, and not our usual hunters.’ Caspian’s shoes clicked on the tile of his hotel as he complained into an earpiece to one of the few who would endure his complaints, “They’re hunting close to here, so I think it may be one staying here, so not yet someone who actually lives in the city,” he expressed to Adria, as he brushed a hand over his suit jacket, “I’m going to speak to Maria again, I’ll take the blame for housing them if it means we can find them,” he let out a frustrated sigh, “getting rid of the body this early in the night will be hard if I can find them, though. Shame we smell like death to you.”

The Wendigo had expressed no interest in eating him, or any other vampire.

Apparently, they weren’t good enough for her delicate appetite.

Her response was dry, “Hardly necessary given the sun,” she said, “I am willing to help find them. I can give you next weekend. There’s an event this weekend that I have to be present for.”

Caspian wasn’t truly asking for help. It was outside of her jurisdiction. She wasn’t an enforcer, and that wasn’t the future he wanted for her. He didn’t think it was a future she wanted, either – she had potential with technology to help them all so much more, and if she was right about having a longer life, then it was one she ought to pursue.

He knew he’d do so much more as his hotel chain spread further. He’d give them all so much more freedom.

He stepped out of the hotel as she was talking, and started walking around, “I hope to figure it out before…,” he trailed, scenting blood. Vampire blood, and human. Had the vampire finally slipped up? A familiar, tantalizing scent hazed his brain a moment, and he realized he was still on the phone, “Ah…I might have it. Talk later,” he hung up quick and let his phone slide into the pocket of his pants, before he began to speed-walk in the direction.

It didn’t take long, it was right behind the Liberty Inn hotel, after all. Right besides the dumpster, but the sight wasn’t exactly what he expected, either.

It was a human, not a vampire, he found. ‘A hunter.’ His mind corrected quickly. Although to look at her, one wouldn’t guess it. She was dressed like any typical girl, and her long, red hair would be considered a hindrance to most hunters Caspian had danced with before. His nose wrinkled in distaste as he looked down at her in her bloody dress, and he pulled a knife from his sleeve.

This wasn’t a hunter he knew.

He couldn’t be too careful. Especially since she had a stake in her hand.

“I hope there is an explanation to this pitiful scene, hunter,” perhaps the hunter had just dealt with his troublesome situation, and he owed her thanks, and stitches.

Perhaps she was exacerbating the situation and killing recklessly.

Either way, he saw no need to hide that he could recognize what she was as he stepped deeper into the alley, closer to the dumpster, and let the knife show clearly in his hand. He was willing to talk. Willing, even, to help – but her reactions would spell her future from this point on.

Even if the scent of her blood continued to nag at him, pulsing with human memories.

Delicious, warm, fresh bread. Something he hadn’t thought about in an age.

Children’s laughter, his own, and that of others.

He didn’t understand it immediately as he waited for her response to the recognition of what she was. He didn’t want to kill her, but if he did, it would be another reason to force Maria to do some actual work on this troublesome situation of a recklessly killing vampire.

More would follow this hunter, if they weren’t already in the city.

It was hard enough keeping the peace with the hunters they did have deals with, when rogue vampires happened!

~***~

Adria Edom walked the familiar streets with her phone pressed to her ear as she listened to Caspian complain that a vampire was killing, “…shame we smell like death to you,” he chuckled, and Adria rolled her eyes.

It had been years now since she’d eaten even a human to help him out with hiding bodies. Upon realizing it was causing more changes in her, she opted to cease. The changes were slowly reverting. The horns no longer grew as fast, so they were easier to keep in line, and her fangs were slowly resuming their normal appearance.

“Hardly necessary given the sun,” she said, “I am willing to help find them,” she added, “I can give you next weekend. There’s an event this weekend that I have to be present for,” loathe it though she did, products didn’t launch without her presence to take care of the social media presence.

And she knew, in the future, with her potentially long life, she could start to have a real impact on those like her.

“I hope to figure it out before…ah…I might have it. Talk later.” The call disconnected, and Adria slipped her phone into her purse. She wasn’t far from hanging up herself as the familiar signage for Elysium came into view.

Adria had dressed up for the trip out, an infrequent but not uncommon occurrence. There was no amount of foundation and concealer that could truly cover how tired she looked, but she’d tried; the problem was not the bags, but the constant pain of hunger. That pain always had a way of making her look exhausted in the eyes, and when it wasn’t exhaustion – well, then the hunger was too naked.

At least in Elysium, they mistook that hunger for lust, and it played well with the little games they all played, of pretending to care about each other.

And it got her pictures to keep her mother off her back. Which was now the situation, yet again. She’d ‘broken up’ with her last boyfriend, but it’d been a few months. She needed a ‘new’ one, the mourning period was apparently over, as her mother started harping on her again.

So, the Wendigo walked into the club, kitten heels and blue dress on, to see who was on the menu now that it’d been a few months since her last visit. A pop song was playing in the background, and there was a fresh-faced boy at the podium when she entered, “Hello!” he greeted with enthusiasm, no doubt too new to be a host himself, but hoping for it one day, and living off the partial tips he was allowed.

Even so, she saw the subtle twitches of fear. The way he swallowed, the way his eyes went over her, and not at all in lust. His chipper tone broke a bit, but he fought to maintain it. “Have you been here before?”

Very new.

“Mm,” she hummed, looking over the pictures of the hosts on the wall for the ones that were in that day.

“Oh! What’s your name? I can see if—”

“I am not a client of anyone in particular,” she said, “You can call me Ria,” she’d rather not have them figure out she was heir to a fortune. She never gave her full name. She always paid in cash, as well. They found out she was rich quick, and that helped the illusion. They were far more willing to indulge for more money, though she knew how she looked.

She looked like a tired college student, probably stressing finals or midterms.

The host never expected too much from her initially, and she could tell that the boy was sizing her up, likely thinking to stick her in a group with a couple hosts dividing their affections among the women, so she blurted, “Is Elio available?”

Elio had been there from the start. She saw him on occasion, but she’d never bothered to waste his time. He was the face of Elysium, after all.

“Oh! Let me go and see, sweetheart,” she could almost laugh at the term of endearment dropped. It wasn’t casual enough, nor intimate enough, to feel sincere yet. The boy was pretty but he had some learning to do, that was obvious.

Adria nodded, indulging him with patience and a smile, that vanished as soon as his back was turned, and did her best to mask a wince as hunger pains tore through her as the scent of the human faded in his effort to go check if Elio – or, probably, anyone else – was available.

 

[Wonderkind]

Anika waited in that gloomy alley, her ears strained for any sounds of someone approaching. For a fleeting moment she held onto the hope that the man was too injured to come after her right now. Even for a vampire an injury like that was painful and would take a bit to heal. Her hopes were crushed as she heard rapidly approaching footsteps. She tightened her grip on the stake. Her throat felt like it was constricting as she waited to see the enraged vampire she had wounded. Death was something they all prepared for before they went on a hunt. No matter how good you were, anything could happen. You might never make your way home and it was just a risk you had to be willing to accept. That didn’t mean Anika was eager to meet her fate just yet.

But the figure that emerged from the shadows wasn’t who Anika thought she’d see. It was a stranger. He regarded her with much less surprise or shock than she would have expected. The reason for that became clear as soon as he called her hunter. Another one? Was there a vampire convention going on in this part of town that she wasn’t aware of? This one looked more like a businessman than a creature of the night though.

"You've got to be kidding me. You're not knife guy", she muttered more to herself than to the man. As he came closer her eyes trailed down his expensive looking suit to his hand, where she could make out a blade.

"Oh… Well. I guess you are”, she blinked a few times. This was bad. The pain and blood loss were beginning to make her hazy. She was starting to speak nonsense. The adrenaline was still coursing through her but she was beginning to feel so very exhausted. It was turning out to be one horrible night.

The man had asked her for an explanation instead of attacking her outright. He also seemed to be in very good control of himself even though she was bleeding. That didn’t necessarily mean he had any intention of not killing her or that he wasn’t involved with the two vampires she had already met. But she supposed there was a slim chance. She shook her head slightly to clear her mind before speaking.

"Listen. I have a bit of a situation here and I’m having a bad night", Anika began as she pushed her legs up, closer to her torso, as if to cover the mess that was her midsection. The movement made her head spin enough that she had to squeeze her eyes shut for a moment to stop the alley from swaying like a ship at sea. Bit of a situation was a severe understatement but she wasn’t expecting to find sympathy.

"So if you're buddies with that guy back there, let's just get this over with", she met his gaze. Her hand was still gripping the stake but she made no move against him.

"That thing with his eye was completely justified on my part, by the way, but you do what you gotta do", this wasn’t a fight Anika was likely to win but she wasn’t the type to beg. It usually didn’t do any good in any case. Most she could hope for was to stab the bastard on her way out. An ending predictable enough for a hunter. Her kind had notoriously short life spans.

"But if you're not… we could just be civil. I'm not here for you. I came to hunt a killer, that is all. He'd already murdered at least three people. He had to be stopped", she finished and fell silent, trying to gage his reaction. Some hunters would have never tried to reason with a vampire. To them, the only good vampire was a dead one. Anika couldn’t share that view. Vampires weren’t mindless beasts. This one had started a conversation with her so she was going to try the peaceful way.

---------------------------------------------------

Elio hadn’t had a chance to get back on the floor when someone came rushing up to him, calling his name. He looked up to see Elysium’s newest recruit. He had been hired only about a month ago and couldn’t have been much older than 22. Elio searched his brain for the boy’s name for a moment. Gabe. That was it.

“Yeah Gabe, what’s up?” he asked, hoping that there wasn’t some kind of imminent disaster brewing. Though if that was the case, Elio shouldn’t have been the first choice to fetch. It would have been the general manager that kept the place running for Jack. Gabe chewed his lip as if he was searching for the right words to say.

“There’s this… woman at the front” he began. The way he said the word woman made Elio’s brows raise slightly. His tone implied like there was something wrong with this particular customer. Some of the new boys reacted this way to customers they didn’t personally find attractive. It was something they learned out of very quickly if they wanted to stay in the business.

“And?”

“She asked for you. By name. But she isn’t one of your regulars and I don’t really know if… if she is worth your time”, Gabe blurted out.

“All of them are worth our time”, Elio corrected gently even though he knew what the boy had meant. His clients were almost exclusively on the wealthy side and it had helped make him the highest earner in this place. The newbies usually took on the ones that were likely to spend less. You had to earn your way up to make decent money.

“Ah yeah, of course. Sorry”, Gabe looked to the floor, looking slightly embarrassed.

“It’s alright”, Elio patted him on the shoulder. “I’m not busy right now, I’ll take care of her.”

Elio followed the boy back to the front of the club, weaving in between tables and the waiters rushing to fulfil orders. As they reached Gabe’s post, Elio could see why he had reacted that way. But at the same time… he couldn’t. There was something about her that from the first glance made Elio feel slightly uncomfortable although he couldn’t place his finger on it at all. Physically there was nothing ominous or threatening about her. Elio himself towered over her. She was pretty albeit she looked like she’d missed out on too much sleep. She was dressed neatly in something that you’d expect their customers to wear. There shouldn’t have been anything to make him feel unsettled and yet he did. But unsettled or not, making it known you were put off by a client was a rookie mistake he wasn’t about to make.

“Hello”, Elio stepped forward as he gave her one of his charming smiles. “You asked for me?”

Elio’s easy going yet confident manner came naturally enough for him but there was a fair bit of practice in there too. His job required a delicate mix of being himself yet delivering the clients what they wanted. Some women were easier to read than others and Elio could figure out their tastes easily enough. Something told him this one might prove to be a more difficult case.

“Would you like to have a seat?” he continued, gesturing towards one of the more remote tables at the back. No pet names yet, he needed to chat her up a bit first. Build a connection.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Not knife guy?’ Even Caspian couldn’t help but let his eyes trail down to his knife, seemingly at the same time the woman realized he was holding it. He let his gaze return to her with a half-smile curled on his lips at her deductions. He wasn’t the Knife Guy, whoever that was, so that was enough to keep her talking.

Apparently, she was hunting the same quarry that he was. Maybe she had gotten the right one – maybe not. It seemed she wasn’t willing to engage in a pointless fight, and he wasn’t inclined towards it, either.

Even if he didn’t yet know who she’d killed.

It could be a friend of his.

‘Problem for later.’ A friend of his could still be the culprit. The blood was still nagging at him, and he finally just stopped breathing to cease the nagging thoughts it was creating.

Except, he had to breathe to talk.

After weighing his options, he breathed in again, “We have the same target,” he said, “there’s no reason for us to fight. I’m not on the side of the vampire committing these reckless crimes,” and then it hit him.

The scent, the memories flooding him – he had to swallow down what may have looked to the hunter like bloodlust as it nearly floored him. ‘Lysander!’

She smelled like Lysander!

Not exactly, but enough that he suddenly knew she was one of his descendants. She had to be! His green eyes went a bit wide in surprise, before he quickly regrouped, and stilled his expression, “That said, I can’t exactly help you up while you’re holding a stake,” he took his knife, and put it into the pocket on his jacket. “You can keep it – but I need to ask you to put it away, and I can help you into the hotel.”

He added, “I won’t bite.” He had enough control over himself that he was pretty sure he could hold her up to get into the hotel. At least, he really hoped he did. The thoughts of Lysander’s blood came back to mind. He hadn’t drank of his friend often, but he had still drank of him. The sweetest blood he’d ever had. He often wondered if it was the emotional connection that caused it, or if it was just physical, and Lysander lucked out in the blood department.

It didn’t matter.

He had to steel himself not to bite.

~***~

Adria waited patiently until Elio arrived. It seemed that whatever the new hire said, it hadn’t put Elio off, although Adria was fairly certain he’d said nothing flattering. She didn’t look wealthy enough, and she was more than familiar with the alarm bells her presence put into others. Even Caspian mentioned it, despite how she had zero desire to tear his arm off and eat it.

To his credit, when Elio arrived, he didn’t so much as flinch.

He offered a charming smile, and a more secluded table, to which she nodded, stepping forward to follow his lead back to the table. Her own smile was far more subdued; showing teeth was always a bit too much of a risk. She wasn’t even sure she could smile and show teeth. She’d been masking that for years now.

“Ria,” she offered by way of introduction, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Elio. I hope you will forgive my forward nature in asking directly for you. This isn’t my first time here, and I’ve yet to settle on a Host. But everyone knows you hold the top spot for a reason.”

Not that she intended to settle on him, but flattery went both ways in these games. It was rarely flattery about the game, though, and someone being good at it. That brought the truth too close to the surface, after all.

She slid into her seat on the black leather couch, eyes falling down to the empty table. Well, that wouldn’t do for long. “Don’t worry, I can make it worth your time,” she brought her gaze back up to him. The exhaustion was gone as her mind shifted to food. Not food she could eat, but any thought of food brought forth that hunger, as it always tried to catch her weakness, “What’s the current, most overpriced, thing on the menu?”

Tease touched her smile, a part of her truly curious to see how Elio would play with someone who clearly knew what this game was, and what he actually wanted out of it. Obviously, she still looked for him to play, even if all the rules were understood too well for her to be deluded by the fantasy.

She still wanted to have a moment of delusion. A moment of something that felt real, amidst everything else.

It was a tall order for anyone.

 

[Wonderkind]

Relief flooded through Anika’s body as the vampire said there was no reason for them to fight but she didn’t let it show. She really hadn’t wanted to try her luck with this man because the odds were not in her favour. There was the concern of the other vampire as well. There was no telling what would happen if he showed up. This new one might join him in attacking her or just leave her to her fate. Getting out of this damn alley was her best bet.

What she saw next made Anika lean back, uncertain of what to expect. Was he losing to his blood lust? Instinctively she tightened her hold on the stake, her arm tensing in preparation for the plunge. But she didn’t go for it, deciding to only strike if he did. He didn’t. His expression stilled but it wasn’t quite enough to put her mind at ease. She watched him slip the knife into his jacket pocket. Anika figured he could draw it out again in no time at all but decided to take it as a peaceful gesture.

At his words Anika glanced at his face and then at her stake. She didn’t want to let it go. It went firmly against everything she had been taught as well. But she couldn’t blame him for wanting it away from striking distance of his heart. She considered it. His assurance that he wouldn’t bite almost made her laugh.

“Fair enough”, Anika finally said. She pulled her backpack closer and dropped the stake into it while still keeping her eyes on him. Any sudden movement and she could still have the slim chance of defending herself.

“I’ll hold you to that”, Anika told him, referring to his promise. She would have never admitted to it but the idea of getting killed by a vampire terrified her. Her parents had explained the process to her when she was around 8 years old. The thought of sharp teeth piercing her skin, sucking the life out of her while she slowly lost consciousness had given her nightmares. Nobody should have to die that way. Do you understand why we must do this? Her father’s stern words echoed in her mind but she tried to push them aside. She wasn’t going to die. She needed to focus.

Right now she needed to get up from the ground. Maybe it was lingering suspicion or simply her pride but Anika wanted to stand on her own. Even if that was all she would manage to do. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before reaching for the top of the dumpster and gripping onto it. Gathering all her strength she forced herself to get up, leaning both onto the dumpster and the wall for support. She didn’t cry out but the pain was visible in the way she gritted her teeth together. Her legs swayed but she remained standing.

“So… you wouldn’t happen to have a place where I could get myself together?” Anika asked. A weak smile lingered on her lips as she looked up at him.

----------------------------------------

Elio led his new guest to the table he had initially pointed out. He preferred the more secluded tables as they allowed his clients to feel like they were getting his undivided attention.

“Pleasure to meet you as well”, he told her with a smile.

“I’m flattered you asked for me”, Elio replied to her flattery easily with his own. Partially it was even true. His position here was steady by now but it was nice to know he was attracting clients outside of his regulars.

As they reached the table he waited for her to take a seat first before sitting down himself. There was a comfortable distance between them but he had sat close enough that had she reached out, she could have touched him. Strictly speaking they were there to entertain with drinks and conversation but some women liked to get more flirtatious than that. Elio allowed it, as long as it remained more or less innocent. He never let anything get too out of hand.

At her next words he tilted his head slightly, just a hint of amusement visible in his eyes. She wanted to play the game. He could appreciate that. It was actually quite refreshing to sit with someone who seemed to truly aware of what this all was. He’d give a good performance for it. He had to earn his keep after all.

“Well then… a woman with taste. Let me get that for us”, Elio said, giving her a flirtatious smile. He raised his hand and only a moment later a waiter materialized by his side out of the bustle of the club. Elio was used to them keeping an eye on him since the tips were always good. The waiter bent down toward him and Elio relayed the order to the man in a low voice. He nodded and started towards the bar. It didn’t take long for the man to return with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. The golden label had a faint sparkle to it that caught in the lights of the Elysium. Elio opened the bottle with experienced hands, keeping the cork in his palm when it popped loose. Champagne shooting from the bottle with a celebratory pop was something many clients expected but Elio knew flying corks in a dim club were not a safe idea.

Elio poured one of the glasses first and handed it to Ria.

“Here we are.”

As he was pouring the second glass for himself the waiter reappeared and slid an elaborate charcuterie board onto their table. The kitchen was always on standby with ready cut ingredients in order to build them up very fast. It looked rather magnificent with expensive cheeses, Italian cured hams, crackers and grapes all presented in a colorful assortment. On the side there were two small forks as well as long toothpicks. Yet it was, as Ria had put it, rather overpriced.

“Please”, he nodded towards the board, as a sign for her to try some first.

“I recommend the Prosciutto di Parma, it’s excellent”, Elio added, the Italian flowing flawlessly from his lips. He picked one of the meats up with a toothpick for her to try if she wished.

“Oh and do let me know if I can make a drink especially for you. A mimosa perhaps? Since we have all this champagne”, he said with a playful smile. That and truthfully he could probably make many of the variations of a mimosa in his sleep by now.

 

[Lucyfer]

Caspian didn’t hide his relief when the hunter agreed to slip her stake away into her bag. It’d be more difficult for her to get it, than for him to bite her. Or for him to stab her. Or, really, do anything. She was taking a significant risk, and he respected that, fully intending not to screw her over.

He’d just…have to make sure he got a drink soon after helping her.

Caspian took a step forward when she started to pull herself up, but drew back quickly as she balanced with her hands on the dumpster. He exhaled, watching her for any need to step in and help keep herself standing.

It seemed she could at least do that much, although it definitely wasn’t ideal for long. The pain was obvious, but once she spoke, and seemed steady enough, he approached. Caspian kept his gestures slow, as he reached to wrap his arm around her, under her shoulders, “Yes, I do. I happen to own the hotel you’ve found yourself in the alley of,” he indicated.

He was willing to keep her weight, and help her walk on her own, although if she proved incapable of walking, he might just sweep her off her feet.

Literally.

“We just need to walk around to the front, and there’s a medical room on the first floor. My clientele aren’t…exactly safe, anywhere.” So the need to have medical facilities on the premises wasn’t strange. He had a werewolf who worked as a doctor, every day except the full moon. He tried to keep his life as human as possible, and Caspian did what he could.

It meant that they could afford to do a fluid transfusion if needed, and get her stitched up, as well.

She might need more, but hopefully that could wait, when she could walk on her own two feet to get examined in an actual hospital. “Just stay with me until we can get you inside. Felix is on call so I’ll have him come look you over. He’s been practicing for fifteen years,” Caspian spoke mostly to distract her.

Give her something to focus on besides the pain.

And distract himself from the sickening familiarity. “He was turned into a werewolf eleven years ago. Never liked the change. Pretends it doesn’t exist except when he can’t. I have a safe room for him. Lucky you, it’s not a full moon night.” So Felix could help. “Don’t have any issues with wolves, do you? No allergies to dogs?”

A bit of a joke. Probably in poor tastes, but some humor was good in moments like this, right?

~***~

‘Hardly.’

Adria knew the items here were overpriced. She’d come from wealth, after all, and understood that the best things were not always the most expensive – but these had to have the look. A bottle that sparkled was part of that look, no doubt painted with 24 karat gold. The slightly sour smell of the liquor garnered no reaction.

Adria couldn’t remember if champagne always smelled that way, or if it was just…her changes. Her tastebuds had muted the taste of everything she’d formerly enjoyed, or enhanced it to the point of being disgusting.

She didn’t like champagne anymore, but she didn’t mind the headrush of alcohol. An even exchange, so long as she didn’t get too far gone that she gave into her instincts.

So, of course, she accepted the glass, and held her breath when she drank it to further mute that sharp, sour taste, that made it seem like the drink was rancid, before the board of tiny foods was brought out. The meats were the only real things of interest, but she wouldn’t give that away. She didn’t have to, though – one was offered up on a toothpick.

Meat never fully satiated. Nothing did, of course – but it had some small impact, unlike grapes. She hummed at the offer and pronunciation, noting the change, before she did lean forward and snap the ham off the toothpick.

‘Almost.’ The taste of pork was almost that of human, not that it was enough to fool her. Even so, it was tasty to her, and she wasn’t inclined to complain, even if she knew she’d have to try a bit of everything to not look, well, carnivorous. “It is excellent,” she agreed, “thank you.”

Although, she laughed a bit when he offered to make a drink for her, “A drink especially for me, but you offer something as common as a mimosa? Well, I can hardly blame you for that,” Adria teased, “I am sure I appear as common as anyone else who comes through these doors. I know I look tired. Overworked from something, not enough time to sleep or eat well. School, work? You likely see it most from the working woman with no time to date, looking for a brief escape where they can feel special, mm?”

Common indeed.

She shut her eyes for a moment before taking another drink. Holding her breath. The cup was half-gone by then, and she set it down, “It’s not quite the same, but my job is exhausting,” Ria said as she fixed that hungry gaze on him again, but reached for cheese with the tiny fork, twirling it between her fingers a moment, “This is more a cover to keep my mother off my back. A picture or two is enough to fool her for a bit,” she popped the cheese square into her mouth.

Why did cheese always taste spoiled? Well, she swallowed it down without comment or flinch. “And social interaction with new people does wonders for the mind, and making new connections that can impact work, so it’s not…entirely done for tricking her,” she admitted with a bit of a laugh, to show she had some interest in feigning this on her side.

That it wasn’t all a feign, either. “So, allow me to ask, and you can tell the truth, or weave an elaborate lie – why do you continue to do this job? Do you enjoy getting to know people and socializing? Or is it the money?” She’d finish her glass while he answered, and pick at the board some more.

 

[Wonderkind]

Anika watched his movements like a hawk, the suspicion too ingrained in her to do otherwise. Though if he wanted to attack her, he could have already done so. There was no need for this charade. Unless he was a particularly sadistic individual, lulling her into a false sense of security before striking. God I’m starting to sound like dad. That thought wasn’t particularly comforting.

She allowed him to wrap his arm around her, realizing that she did need the help. It was a strange sensation being so close to a vampire. Usually, she never was, unless she was attempting to murder one. Nevertheless she was thankful for the support.

“Oh”, was all Anika said at first to his comment about owning the hotel. She glanced at the building she had just been leaning on. A hotel owner. Not what she would have expected but she had thought he looked like a businessman.

“How lucky”, she continued with a tired smile.

They started their rather slow journey towards the front. Anika leaned on him, focusing on each individual step to keep her balance. He was chatting away next to her and she was grateful for it. It distracted her and allowed her to temporarily ignore how odd this situation was. She’d get fixed up and go back home, never to breathe a word about it to her family. All they would need to know was that she’d gotten her target. One new scar added to her body would hardly draw attention.

They made it to the front of the building and Anika recognized it immediately. Without realizing she had run back to the spot the vampire had picked her up from. She’d have to make a note about this hotel. They had a werewolf for a doctor and who knew what manner of creatures as guests. Not that she’d show up here for trouble but it was useful to know locations like these. If only to keep her family away from them.

His question about having trouble with wolves made her snort. She regretted that almost immediately as there was a sharp pang in her side. Anika let out air through her teeth to stop the litany of curses that wanted to escape her lips. If she truly had a broken rib, it would be a pain to heal. Both literally and figuratively.

“Allergies would definitely be my biggest concern right now. So luckily I don’t have any”, Anika smiled to herself. Her potential problems with werewolves had nothing to do with allergies. Her family did regular business with werewolf hunters for wolf blood. It didn’t do much harm to vampires but it was unpleasant enough for them to work as a distraction. That was one topic she didn’t want brought up to any werewolf with sharp instruments around her.

Anika so nearly made it through the door. She could feel her legs give out from under her just a second before it happened. On instinct she threw her arms around him to keep herself from falling, even with him still supporting her. For a moment she froze, considering that perhaps it would have been better if she had passed out behind that dumpster. Slowly she looked up at him. Here she was, clinging to this stranger, bleeding on him. Not her finest moment.

“I hope I won’t be getting your dry cleaner’s bill after this”, a very bad joke, if only to hide how mortified she was.

-----------------------------------

Elio looked at her appraisingly as he twirled the champagne around in his glass. He didn’t have much interest in drinking it but he’d have to indulge in some eventually. On paper his job sounded pretty good but the constant drinking lost its appeal very quickly.

Her speech made him raise his brows before he chuckled lightly. She was more straight forward than most. There was something refreshing about that. But he’d have to be on his guard with this one.

“Well then, I’ve been schooled”, he said but the relaxed smile on his face gave the impression he wasn’t offended. It was true that they all assumed things about the people that walked in here. Some accurate, some not so much. But their clients often had similarities. They were overworked, ignored, bored with their lives. Many came to Elysium to be someone different for a few hours. A fair few of Elio’s regulars used fake names with him. He knew but played along without complaints.

She wanted pictures for her mother? A bit unusual but not unheard of. He’d certainly had more unhinged requests in his time. However the gaze she fixed on him raised those same alarm bells in his head that had popped up when he first laid eyes on her but Elio tried to silence them. He still couldn’t pinpoint why she made chills run through his spine. What was that emotion he saw in her eyes? It wasn’t quite lust. He was plenty used to that. This was something… more sinister. That word floated up to his mind uninvited and he pushed it back. No need to freak himself out over nothing. Despite the debate going on in his head, Elio’s relaxed exterior did not crack.

“I’ll be happy to help with that if you’ll have me”, he assured her.

Her next question threw him off slightly. People didn’t usually ask him that. Elio assumed it was nicer if they all pretended he wasn’t paid to be there. He took a sip of his champagne to buy himself some time. He could taste just a hint of lemon and apple as it hit his tongue. It would be easy to lie. To say he loved socializing and entertaining people. Not that it was entirely a lie. Some of his encounters were truly enjoyable. But to say it was his main reason was definitely false. It was just the most marketable answer.

“It’s… complicated”, he finally said with a grin like he was talking about a messy situationship. Sometimes his job did feel like that. His face slowly grew serious as his eyes moved away from her.

“I do like meeting people. I want them to enjoy their time with me. But perhaps it’s because I know what it’s like to want to escape. If only for a while”, Elio mused in an unusual moment of sincerity, his gaze wandering the club. In a way he was running away just as much as some of his clients were. But talking about it wasn’t something he meant to do. If anyone was playing therapist around here it was supposed to be him. This woman threw him off his game and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. You’re getting sloppy.

“Definitely not complaining about the money though”, he added. His seriousness was gone and Elio gave her a playful smile.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘It’s a headache.’ Caspian honestly knew it was lucky to own a hotel chain, and he was lucky at how well it was doing. He was set to expand rapidly. There was a market no one else had latched onto, and a need he was able to fill, but he kept that to himself for now. He didn’t really need hunters swarming his hotels.

He probably shouldn’t have mentioned it, and he was beating himself up over that as he smiled distractedly at her quip on allergies, and stepped to the door. He was distracted by his own irritation at himself that he almost didn’t notice her fall. He was able to stabilize her as she fell into him.

He stilled his breathing and shut his eyes a moment. Tried to ignore the sound of her heart beating against his chest. This was not ideal. “You will be getting a hefty bill,” he breathed out, opening his eyes and managing a smile again to make it obvious this was a joke. To try and relieve his own tension. “Come on,” he didn’t wait for her to move, as he reached for the handicap button to make the door open automatically, before he bent and put an arm behind her knees to scoop her up into his arms, bridal style.

No more accidents that way, though he wouldn’t be surprised if she protested.

He walked through the open doors, doing his best to breath very little as his eyes darted around the lobby. Thankfully, there weren’t many hanging out there. There was the staff, and a couple talking at the desk, but the attendant was quick to catch his eye and immediately engaged the couple in a far more energetic conversation to keep them from looking and seeing someone bloody had entered.

Caspian walked them towards the medical door off to the right of the entrance, “Felix,” he hissed at the door, voice raised just a little. Felix was close anyways – he smelled the blood – and opened the door to let Caspian in.

“Christ, Caspian,” Felix grumbled as Caspian made his way towards the cot to gently sit Anika down, “what is this?”

Felix seemed completely human, of course. It wasn’t the full-moon, so the brunette didn’t seem strange. No yellow eyes, no claws – nothing. His hazel eyes jumped between Caspian and the new person with obvious agitation and question. “This is the woman who dealt with our vampire problem, and now she needs treatment,” Caspian introduced, realizing then he hadn’t got her name.

And his had just been revealed.

Felix stiffened a bit, “Er—I don’t—what hunting group are you a part of?” Felix opted to ask her, before gesturing, “and if you don’t mind…I need to see your wound.” Which meant she’d need to strip, just a bit, so he had access to the wound. He wouldn’t reach to do so himself. She was lucid enough, obviously. He’d let her handle that business, but he didn’t move to step out.

Nor did Caspian, for that matter. It was a good question. A lot of hunters got into it by family, but that couldn’t be the case with her. Not considering who she clearly belonged to….

~***~

The picture was officially agreed upon, before Elio fell serious, musing over her question. It was evident enough it took him by surprise, but Adria was silent as he considered it, and didn’t offer a blithe response. He did not get into the details, but his answer said quite a bit. ‘That must be why you’re considered so good.’ The others were there for money they thought easy with socializing and flirting.

And some were that easily swayed.

Elio understood it was an escape, an escape she was ruining by casting an ugly light upon it with her questions, and blatant show of money to purchase the most stupidly priced things. The little bits of ham only really did so much for her.

The fact he never flinched, however, was far more interesting to her. It had the potential to actually make this feel like an escape, and she almost felt a nagging guilt at putting him on the spot and breaking up that escape for a moment. Then again, perhaps something different was an escape in and of itself?

Adria would never know.

That was part of the game – if he was good at it.

She chuckled over the rim of her glass as he commented on the money, and she took the bottle to pour herself another glass of the acrid drink, having finished her cup, and seeing no reason to make him do it. Sure, he was supposed to in his role, but…why not make it different for once? “No one ever complains about the money,” she agreed, pushing the champagne bottle back to the center. “Unless it’s a lack of it, of course.”

She’d leave the serious behind, for now. “We can take a picture near the end; I might at least be loose enough to look convincing with another glass or two,” she offered the reason easily enough. She wasn’t exactly reaching for him, or scooting closer. Close quarters had their danger.

She wasn’t reckless but…she didn’t like testing it, either. She didn’t exactly have centuries of restraint trained into her. “But! Now that we know we’re both gainfully employed,” sure, he didn’t know what she did, but she was exhausted from it, and she was playing the game of ‘escape’. This was now a ‘first date’, and making sure the other was employed was very important.

No deadbeats here!

“I think we can continue getting to know each other, no?” the smile was a bit on the playful side, “What would you do if money weren’t an issue?” she canted her head. This was always how she got the ‘lie’ of what her new boyfriend did for work. She couldn’t say he was a host! “I always thought I’d rather like to be one of those people who traveled around the world and tried all sorts of cuisines,” what a waste that would be now, “now I think I’d have more fun ghost hunting.” Jobs that sounded completely unrealistic, to draw out similar.

The rich were…eccentric. Their jobs could be, as well. Her mother would believe that bullshit.

 

[Wonderkind]

Anika couldn’t have blamed him if he actually decided to bill her, considering she was about to get stitched up by his doctor as well. She wanted to protest getting picked up but this might have been faster than have her stumbling through the lobby like she had just walked out of a car wreck. So Anika remained silent as he scooped her up seemingly with little effort. If there were any positives to her blood loss, it was that her face couldn’t display her embarrassment for the whole world to see via her flushed cheeks. It was one of the downsides of her pale skin, she blushed easily with any heightened emotions.

The desk clerk picked up on the situation remarkably quickly, moving into distraction mode as they slinked behind the couple towards the back. Anika couldn’t help but wonder how often stuff like this happened here for it to be nothing out of the ordinary.

It hurt to be placed down, even if he was gentle, but Anika was thankful to be sitting. She glanced at her rescuer, whose name seemed to be Caspian, cringing internally as she saw the stains she had left on his suit. He’d barely flinched at all of the blood and she had to admire his self-control. Admire it and hope it wasn’t about to crack.

Her gaze shifted to the floor as the question of which hunting group she was a part of came up. To buy herself some time she placed her backpack onto the cot next to her and began the troublesome process of taking off her jacket. With great effort, gritting her teeth through it all, she managed to shift the jacket off her shoulders. It was loose enough to slide down her arms where she could pull the sleeves over her hands. The jacket fell to the floor behind her with a thud and a small metallic clink. There had been a knife in her other sleeve too. She glanced down over her shoulder to make sure the knife wasn’t in view. Not that she would be able to get to it easily from up here.

She’d have to say something. Anika could only hope her affiliation wouldn’t cause this fragile truce to break.

“I’m with the Ravenwoods”, she finally said.

Ravenwood was a rather well-known name, at least in the hunting circles. The original family had been in the game for well over 300 years at this point. Over time they’d recruited other families and some solitary members and had grown beyond their own blood, spread out here and there. That’s how her family had gotten involved originally. By the influence of one Elijah Ravenwood. The reputation of the Ravenwoods was… varied. With how big they had gotten, there were bound to be a few bad apples. Hunters whose moral code was rather lax to put it nicely.

Anika didn’t want to think about it but her own father and brother could very well fit into that group. After the death of Jason, their father had gone scorched Earth on the ones responsible. Anika had been too young to be privy to all the details but she knew it had been an ugly affair. Her other brother Caleb took after their father in the best and worst ways.

“But the others have no reason to come after me. Not yet anyway”, this was both a reassurance and a veiled threat.

Anika glanced at Caspian, hoping she wasn’t crossing a line. He seemed very reasonable but its not like she could trust him yet. She imagined the feeling was mutual. But it was true that he didn’t need to worry about more Ravenwood hunters popping up near his hotel. Not unless she went missing. Eventually someone would come looking for her.

“I’m not a Ravenwood though. My name is Anika Cresswell”, she managed a polite smile even though there was nothing normal about this introduction.

“Um is this… enough?” Anika asked next, directing her question to Felix. She glanced down at herself.

“This is a dress so you’d probably have to cut this off if you need to see my side”, she yanked at the fabric to demonstrate she couldn’t really expose the wound more. She tried to hide her embarrassment by reminding herself that no matter how weird this situation was, this man was a doctor. He’d surely seen it all before.

“Feel free if you need to. It’s ruined anyway.”

-----------------

Elio was relieved to note that his momentary relapse into the serious didn’t drag the mood down entirely. It was sometimes tough to salvage an encounter that had started going south. He didn’t have many of those these days but it wasn’t good to get too self-confident. That was just asking for trouble.

He watched her pour herself another glass. That was traditionally his job in these situations but he didn’t rush to take over the task. He was starting to pick up on the fact that this wasn’t going to be one of his typical evenings. Instead he picked up a grape and slipped it into his mouth, nodding to her gesture to take the picture towards the end of the evening.

“Ghost hunting?” Elio asked with a light chuckle. He couldn’t help imagining her in a Ghostbusters type jumpsuit and had to suppress his amusement over the visual. Of course he knew there were actual ghost hunters around, one only had to venture onto the internet to find them. He couldn’t call himself a believer though.

“Not a bad idea really. There’s a ghost story in my family that the old timers still love telling. Might be nice to meet great-great grandma”, he said with a smile although he certainly hoped his distant relative wasn’t still wandering the halls of her ancestral home. Such a fate would be only added tragedy to her already miserable ending. If the stories were to be believed that was.

“For me…”, he continued, musing over Adria’s previous question, taking another small sip of his champagne.

“Maybe something exciting and slightly life threatening. Like underwater treasure hunting. Who knows what’s down there”, Elio had actually gone diving many times when he was younger and had enjoyed it. Being underwater, so cut off from the rest of the world, was a feeling he hadn’t felt since.

One time they had been exploring a sunken ship near a reef. A piece of tragic history turned tourist destination. Regardless, being there, he had felt the weight of history close. It had reminded him of when he was a child, listening to tales his parents told him. If he had picked up anything from them, it was respect for history. Elio had found an old locket on that dive. It was rusted shut and corroded from the salt water and practically worthless but he had found it beautiful. He still owned the locket. It hung from the frame of his mirror in the bedroom.

“In the evenings I’d play the piano in some hole in the wall only locals know. There can never be enough music in the world”, Elio added. He may have started piano at the prompting of his parents but he did have to admit that he liked playing.

 

[Lucyfer]

Caspian stiffened at the mention of the group. ‘How would—why would you get involved with them? For how long?’ These were not questions he could ask Anika Cresswell as she introduced herself. Not yet, anyways, although he desperately wanted to know how her family could have ever been involved with such a vicious group of hunters.

He didn’t trust she was the only one here. Not really.

Hunters rarely operated alone.

Felix could see the tension, but he wouldn’t comment on it. He didn’t really know the name that Anika mentioned; he didn’t stick his nose in any of that business and preferred to know less. However, he frowned when she just tried to move the dress. “I’m…going to have to cut quite a bit,” he said.

She seemed okay with it, but he still glanced to Caspian. They couldn’t exactly send her out of here without clothes.

Caspian sighed, understanding the look. “I’ll see if I can find something for her,” she was taller than Adria, but that didn’t rule out the possibility. Adria had plenty of long dresses and she rarely wore one twice. “I’ll be just through here, I need to make a call,” and get a bit of blood. His eyes kept drifting to the wound, and the scent was now permeating the room with them locked in it.

He didn’t go to exit the same way, but stepped into another attached room. He kept the door opened as he moved to a fridge and pulled out a blood bag, taking his phone out and dialing for Adria.

As he did that, Felix did take scissors to the fabric and cut the hole larger, “I’m going to clean around it first. It’s going to hurt,” he advised, before he would indeed take a cloth soaked in alcohol to cleanse the wound, so he could get a better idea of its shape, and if it was going to need any stitches.

~***~

“Mmmm,” she hummed agreeably at his inquiring, confirming her interest in ghost hunting. It wasn’t a lie. She did more hunting of, well, physical things, but the corporeal were more interesting. Most those she spoke with believed that her situation was a curse, after all. To her, that felt like something in the spiritual area.

Adria hadn’t figured a way to lift it. If it even could be lifted, yet she figured answers would be found in that realm.

One day.

Whether or not Elio believed in it, his family clearly did, and she lifted her brows in interest at his own ghost story, but let him shift to his dreams without money concerns. “You really enjoy the idea of isolation and anonymity, don’t you?” Being unknown but beloved through the piano, and cut off from it all underwater. Perhaps, in a way, it fit where he was at.

He was unknowable outside of his persona. “Don’t worry, I don’t blame you,” pain wrenched through her and she grimaced. Eating a little spurred the hunger for more, but she wrinkled her nose and shook it off, “Don’t get older,” she joked, “you get all these fun little pains and new developments once you hit thirty,” she said it as a joke, of course, with a smile coming back into place.

‘Pretend. Ignore.’ She set aside her toothpick, focused more on the drink. On a common interest, possibly. “I’ve always liked Ravel. Do you know their work?”

 

[Wonderkind]

Anika waited for Caspian to leave the room before she laid down as carefully as she was able, leaving her side exposed for the doctor to work on. She tried to keep her breathing steady and composed. Just ignore the pain. She was used to this. It was only a physical sensation that would pass. Her gaze wandered the walls of the small room avoiding the doctor. Anika felt embarrassed and had to suppress the urge to apologize to this man for the inconvenience of it all.

“So… have you worked with Caspian long?” she asked as nonchalantly as possible, hoping her attempt at conversation didn’t come off as an interrogation. She wanted to fill the silence with something if only to distract herself from the burning pain that seemed to pulse in beat with her heart. The adrenaline was wearing off now that she had settled.

“He kinda surprised me. This is not where I thought I’d be ending up tonight”, Anika admitted with a wry smile. She wondered if many hunters got patched up in Caspian’s hotel but she didn’t ask. More than likely it would be other non-humans. She had no real reason to know. All she did was hunt the rogue ones.

A few hours from now she’d have to report, at the latest. If she missed it, they would start to wonder. Eventually they would worry and send someone out looking for her. Anika didn’t want that. Her parents wouldn’t let her hear the end of it if they had to waste resources on something like that. To them she was never quite prepared enough. Never quite good enough. She liked to think it was their flawed way of showing they still cared for her as their daughter. It wasn’t all that clear these days.

—-------------------------------------

Elio smiled at her assessment and he couldn’t say she was wrong. Being known was a whole terror in itself. This job was a good fit in a lot of ways because he could cover himself in dozens of personas if he so chose. Why he needed that… well he wasn’t quite sure about that. But perhaps it was better to not go digging too deep into it. There was no telling what he might find if he did that.

“Maybe I like giving off an aura of mystery”, he played the whole thing off as a joke to keep the conversation in safer waters. Her sudden grimace made his brows furrow in slight concern. That had been a truly pained expression. Not anything Elio imagined some slight aches and pains to cause. But she was back to smiling, clearly intending to minimize whatever it had been. So Elio did not pry. It wasn’t any of his business unless she herself brought it up.

“Getting old is not allowed in this profession”, Elio said with a slight laugh. Jack had often joked he’d kick him out the moment he was no longer pretty. There was a hint of truth to it. Their profession had an expiration date and they were all just passing through in most cases. For Elio himself there was always the possibility of running the club with Jack. If that’s what he wanted. If indeed.

He was just about to answer her next question when she seemed to be getting a phone call, the ringing phone just audible through the music and overall bustle of the room.

“Something important?” Elio asked. He was prepared to leave the table to give her some privacy if she wished or stay put if she preferred the step out for a moment herself.

 

[Lucyfer]

It was easy enough for Caspian to puncture the bag with his teeth, and then drink from it as the phone rang. Eventually, there was an answer. Usually, Adria answered with her name. The fact she didn’t had Caspian wondering, but he ignored those thoughts. It was her voice. And he’d called her number. “Permission to raid your closet for a hunter who dealt with the problem I was working on.”

Her answer was expected, but Caspian still had to ask. He felt some relief at it. “Not positive, but I have a good feeling. The hunter’s…from an old friend bloodline.” Of course, Adria knew, and guessed, “Yes, that friend.” He let out in a sigh. He could hear the judgment, but she didn’t dwell on it. “No, it’s likely better if you stay away for now. The hunters she works with don’t hunt your kind, but they’re…infamous, and may stray. Your kind isn’t exactly common enough to have dedicated hunters.”

A fact she knew. A fact Caspian was almost certain she hated. Suicidal ideation wasn’t unique. He’d gone through it in his younger years. Felix had dealt with it. Change was…difficult.

He was dismissed, though, and laughed – part shock, part embarrassment – with the way she dismissed him, “Bye!” he barely got it out before the call ended, and he had to shake his head a bit, before he pocketed the phone, and finished up the remaining blood, before heading off to locate the room Adria infrequently used to find something that might work for the huntress.

Something he wouldn’t enjoy that much.

~***~

“Mmm, about six years,” Felix answered calmly as he wiped away the blood, revealing the true size of the wound. Stitches would certainly be needed, but he imagined that wasn’t unfamiliar. Hunters dealt with that often enough. “I wasn’t born a werewolf, I was turned. I never bought into the idea of packs. I’m human most of the time, it’s just the full moon I’m not. So I was a bit of a…lone wolf,” he joked, “bought a storage unit, drugged meat, and dealt with my monthly issue that way. Now I deal with it in the vaults of this hotel.”

He got his needle and thread, “Caspian’s a good guy, for a bat,” he joked, as he pushed the needle into her flesh, “he tries to make life easier for all of us with these hotels. Some live here full time. Most of us were human, after all, and still want to live like it. Not like just being supernatural gives us a paycheck,” he joked, continuing to calmly pull her wound closed, “some hunters get it. Some don’t. I hope you’re the kind who understands. I know Caspian tries to work with hunters to deal with the more…anarchistic, human-hating, sorts in our ranks.”

With the wound closed, he reached for a bandage to put over it, for the extra protection. That was when Caspian returned, arm full of clothes. Felix arched a brow. “Adria’s?”

“She agreed,” he was swift to answer.

“I know,” Felix didn’t doubt she was asked, “she’s shorter than the hunter.”

“These are some of her longer skirts and dresses,” no pants, those wouldn’t have worked at all. He moved to set them on the empty chair in the room, “Anika, when you’re…dressed, I’d like to talk to you. I need the description of the ones you dealt with, and there’s another matter I’d like to talk about, as well.” Caspian said, as Felix calmly placed the bandage over the wound.

~***~

Adria laughed at the idea of getting old being forbidden, “You may want to look into becoming a vampire, then,” she suggested, wagging her finger, “Although considering how many women like older men, I imagine you have a long career ahead of you.” She wouldn’t even try to guess how old he was.

She’d been wrong often enough on that.

Her phone rang, and she sighed as she checked it, seeing the familiar name. “Important, yes, but no need to leave unless you want to,” Adria said, and would answer, regardless of his choice, “It’s me. What do you need?”

She almost laughed at the request. The amusement that touched her face was obvious, “To raid my closet?” she repeated, “I haven’t left anything I care about at your hotel, raid away. Are you sure the job’s done, though?”

He seemed sure – but it was laced with dangerous sentimentality. “That old friend?” there was only one person who really had that title. Affirmation was no surprise. “Interesting how they’d go into that line of work…no matter. Am I needed for anything else?” he didn’t want her to meet the hunter, did he?

She wasn’t.

But he spoke with a warning that narrowed her eyes on the table. The hunter was dangerous – or part of a dangerous group. She understood there’d be work after this night had passed. “I’m painfully aware,” sometimes, she really wished there was a dedicated hunter to put her out of her damn misery. She was too much of a coward to do it herself. “Go enjoy your friend, then. Not—not that way.” She almost palmed her face, “Bye.” She did palm her face as she hung up, hearing him laugh.

She took a deep breath, reoriented herself, and put her phone away in her purse, “Sorry,” she offered, “I usually wouldn’t answer but we’ve been having an…issue that seems to have finally resolved itself.” Only to create another. Wasn’t that just life, though?