The Pub

[Lucian 'The Wolf' Harth]

The cool mist of the night calmed his muscles in a way that soothed him almost as much as the cigerette smoke he was inhailing. Small pools of water splashed against the leather boots that wrapped around the man's feet as he stepped into them. With little worry about where he was or where he was heading, the man looked up at his surroundings. He had been in this city for a few hours now, but he hadn't acknowledged it until just now.

'What a suprise. Fate has brought me to yet another shit hole. I swear, if I had a nickel for every place I've seen I'd be a fucking millionare.'

The man, Lucian, looked down the dimly lit street for somewhere to spend a few hours. He had no intention of staying in this place very long, but needed to get warm and rest up for a while. Hell, even men that have been through as much as he had need to relax every now and then. Off in the distance he could hear light chatter. As he focused his gaze, he saw a couple people head into a small bar. Smirking to himself, he started down the street towards it.

'The bars these days are almost pathetic. I miss the old days when ale was served straight from the barrel. Oh well, dark lagers do the job.'

Lucian stopped in front of the pub, 'The Twisted Snake'. The sweet smell of liquor, cigerettes, cigars and beer entered his nose. He smiled as he pulled out another cigerette, brought it to his lips, and inhaled deeply. He stepped over the threshold and into the pub. There was a small crowd, though that was to be expected, it was Thursday night. He walked to the bar, sat down on the stool, looked the bar tender right in the eye, and spoke the first words he had all day.

"Give me a pint of the darkest lager you have. In a clean glass."

[Aesalon]

"One Thirty Nine" Peter Sayles mumbled aloud over and over as he nervously scurried through the dark city streets.

"Where the hell is it?!?" he cringed as his exclamation echoed slightly off of the brick and mortar canyon that was this warehouse district street. "Named after some kind of reptile...I think...maybe I should ask directions...no..." Peter continued his one-sided conversation for nearly half of a mile.

Then he saw it, a block down towards the docks - a crooked red and green neon sign proclaiming 'The Twisted Snake'. A moment of fear crept over him, 'what if he isn't there...or worse, what if they were there waiting for him'. Peter, in a rare show of willpower over fear, simply took a deep breath and entered the pub.

Feeling every eye of the small crowd upon him, Peter walked as slowly as he could towards the least lit of the corner booths, discovering along the way that scanning the room without making eye contact is not nearly as easy as the movies make it seem...

[Lucian 'The Wolf' Harth]

The door opened and a new scent entered the building. Lucian closed his eyes and took a deep inhale, allowing the scent to enter his nostrils. The new arrival was male, and he was nervous about something. Unusual, how someone walking into a bar would be nervous. What was he so nervous about? This interesting development interested the mysterious man, so he turned to look and see just who it was that had entered the room. Just as his nose had told him, the man was obviously nervous. It was all too obvious that he was trying to observe his surroundings without drawing attention to himself.

"Here's your beer sir. Should I open a tab for you?" The bartender placed Lucian's lager on a coaster in front of him.

"That will be fine. I'll pay before I leave." Lucian spoke just above a mumble.

"Very well sir."

Lucian reached out his hand and grabbed the mug that contained the beverage. The lager was indeed rather dark, but it's taste still wasn't up to par on what he would consider to be 'good'. He began to drink his beverage casually as he turned away from the bar to take in his surroundings. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, aside from the new guy that is. Games of billiards were being played, darts were being thrown, and music was playing from an antique juke box.

Turning to face the new man, Lucian stared at him without trying to hide it. He wanted to make the guy sweat. He had no real reason other than he found it amusing to get reactions out of people. This man was uncomfortable, and Lucian took it upon himself to make him as uncomfortable as he could possibly get.

[Guest]

His eyes trailed down the long brown and tan shaft as he lined it up with the dull white sphere and the darker ebony ball ahead of it. His left hand kept the point straight and his right was reared back ready to make the shot. Biting his tongue, a trickle of sweat worked its way down his forehead while clammy hands steadied the cue still as they could manage, though try as he might, Richard still found his body shaking. His vision was cross-eyed, and his head was pounding like horse’s hooves on dry dirt, and burning in his stomach had yet to stop, but despite all this he still called it. “Eight ball, corner pocket.” With a pivot of forward motion from his arm, the point of the wood clacked against the ball and sent it rocketing into number eight, smashing it into the side of the table and like pinball the billiard bounced back across the length of the surface and sank right into the far left corner with a thunk.

Whoops and hollers erupted up around him and a playful slap was felt on his back, as he picked up his half empty bottle and clinked it against about half a dozen others, then throwing back his head, he tilted the bottle so the bottom was smiling at the ceiling and let the all too familiar substance run down his throat like a river. He swallowed until there was nothing but drops left and tugged the bottle away, setting it on the table just beside him. He sighed deeply, as if the drink had been refreshing, but it was more out of habit then pleasure. One only got pissed at the same bar so many times before it became routine, so Richard figured that made this just another night.

The young man laid his pool stick across the green table and swiped a twenty up off up it in replacement. He quickly pocketed it and moved out the way for another group to come in, an almost guarantee by this point. It’s a well known fact that the later it gets, the drunker you find yourself, and the drunker you find yourself the less cautious you are with money, so what better way to lose money than to gamble it away on pool? This late it night, it became less of a test of skill but rather who could hold there liquor better, and judging by his side earnings of late, Richard felt he could hold his pretty well. Jobless, penniless, and an alcoholic, gambling seemed one of the few ways to earn money and he and his brothers had to eat somehow. Ethically, it probably wasn’t something he should be doing, but when you find yourself in desperation, you become short of morals.

Wading through the tide of people, Richie found that one table in the back corner where he’d end most nights of late in a drunken daze of sorts till he passed out only to have the barkeep throw him out a few hours later at closing time. The chair creaked as he sat down in it and the wooden backing dug into his shoulder blades as he propped both his feet up onto the table and let his eyelids start to slump. Fuck comfort, it wasn’t like a bit of irritation in his spine, or the migraine causing the painful throbbing against his skull would kill him. He’d spent the twenty-one years of his life in the shittiest places one could find in this city living day to day with less comfort than this, so if enduring this bit of pain was punishment for his sins of greed and gluttony he didn’t mind. In some part of his mind, it felt like he somewhat deserved it anyways.

[Aesalon]

"Crack"!!

Peter jumped at the gunshot before his racing heart calmed enough to realize that the sound had come from the billiards table, though that moment of relief was immediately followed by the feeling that everyone in the bar was still staring at him.
"...just imagining it" he mumbled to himself as he scanned the room again, only to see that the tall, rather frightening looking man at the bar was in fact looking through the shadows of this dark corner at him. A flurry of thoughts crossed his mind, the first being 'they found me', soon followed by a slightly frenzied calculation of the time it would take him to reach the door. "No, too far" Peter said to himself...A loud cheer from the crowd around the billiards table startled him again and a young man with a decided...'tilt', walked to a table a few feet away, where he sat down and fell immediately to sleep?!

"Calm, palm trees, sea breezes...Ohhhhhmmmmmmmm", Peter intoned the theraputic mantra that his therapist had assured him would help in these panic-attack situations, amazingly this time his thoughts somewhat cleared. 'If the man at the bar was with the bank, I would be dead', the accountant took another deep steadying breath, 'I just need to wait here another few minutes...I am early, he will be here.'
"Act like you belong here..." he uttered under his breath. Peter looked around the bar to find a waitress, but his eyes soon found three of the pool-players standing together, including the man who had recently been parted from some of his money. Peter Sayles recognized conspiracy, and these three were planning something...

[Fate Flyer]

The bar scene was something that the, seemingly, young man was accustomed to. Before the liquor and the inebriated atmosphere though, it was the parties and the women that stole his innocence. His rich, dark hair grew long and dejected, while his eyes grew increasingly blacker from the makeup he reapplied each day. The gauges in his ears grew, and the scruff along his jawline followed suit. It was true that his crowd had pointed him down a path that one might consider conspicuous, but what really turned Corbin Rok into the man he was today took place in pub not all unlike the one he found himself in this night.

A shit hole.

Succumbing to the effects of the ethanol he was ingesting, pitying his liver for having to process it, Corbin allowed himself to find some sense of peace in this otherwise unpleasant and stale bar. He wasn't here for just the alcoholic beverages (which were surprisingly refreshing), after all. His eyes scanned the room quickly, but his posture and body remained relaxed and content. He avoided making eye contact with those that he could, but one of the bar tenders managed to catch his eye -- a younger woman, probably still in college, though her eyes spoke on her behalf, despite her backwater attempt at seductive clothing and her given situation. They were intense and focused, and to any observant man, it was clear she was intelligent. It seemed to Corbin as if she were keeping an eye on the place, though as soon as their eyes met, she looked away, pouring a glass for another patron.

Surveying the room one more time over, Corbin now had everything taken in, from the plainly paranoid man in the dim corner, to the one who had just won a twenty in a pool game and was now relaxing, to the rather striking man at the bar. It was this man that Corbin had his sights on, and his glaring, dagger eyes showed no signs of foolery.

The room in the front of the bar grew louder, as a dollar was deposited into the touch-screen digital jukebox (clearly one of the newer features of the place), and an old country song began to play. A few Harley men made groaning protests to what they considered a poor choice in music, but most of the crowd in the bar seemed unfazed by the music that barged its way into their conversations. Corbin, on the other hand, sneered -- not at the music choice, but rather that there simply was more noise for him to have to put up with.

In one swift pull, one of the front glass doors swung open, and a young woman emerged. She was accompanied by two men, one tall, large, and muscular, the other more lean and fit. They all had a confident air about them. The woman, who looked barely old enough to be drinking, walked straight up to the bar, without ever even passing a glance at anything off in her peripheral vision. Her companions, however, seemed all too accustomed to occupying themselves watching either side of her, almost like body guards. Ordering a mixed drink, the girl had a seat not far from where the man whom Corbin had a close eye on was sitting. Watching in close curiosity, Corbin's attention was briefly stolen from the man up at the bar to these three.

The woman had short, white-blonde hair and was as thin as a twig. Her eyes were steely and narrowed, but her lips were constantly being tugged at the corners. Perhaps, she was amused at the reactions of those around her in the bar, though she really made no attempt at looking at anyone else besides the bartenders working behind the counter. When she received her drink, she softly offered a 'Thank you,' and began sipping the enticing red and orange mixture from her glass. The two men with her then took a seat on either side of her, their heads now down, minding their own business. It was then, that the woman at last swiveled around in her seat to turn and gaze across the room to the jukebox on the wall, a plain smile now on her face. It quickly faded though, as her eyes drifted across the room, falling on Corbin's, who had been clearly staring up at her, before she turned back around for another swig.

Interesting night, this, Corbin thought with a quiet chuckle, finishing the last drops of his beer.

He stood up, and as he did so, he noticed the gaze of the white-haired woman dart toward him, though never truly landing on him, before returning to stare at her drink. He already had a tab, so he simply told one of the bartenders his name and that he'd like another Budweiser. Once he was handed his glass, he turned on his heel, attempted to make eye contact with the girl again, and then walked defeatedly back to his seat when she didn't even so much as bat an eye.

[Eternity]

"No one can confidently say that he or she will be living tomorrow."

Lurching forth from her bed, sweat beaded along her brow. Alice took in a long draw of breath, making sure she was still alive; still somehow functioning. The words that dark man spoke to her echoed through her head. Cryptic, a warning.

But what had it all meant?

In a way, Alice felt like it weren't a warning of the future, but one of the past. But never in her lifetime of 21 years, had she heard a man like that. Never had she heard those words, or been stared upon by dark cynical eyes who judged her for crimes she knew nothing of.

Her crystal blue eyes turned for the clock, and she realized that night had not really gone underway. She had gone to bed early hoping for a long restful sleep.
And now she'd suffer a horribly long night...






The pub.
It was a place she turned to only on the worst of nights; like this one.

She pushed open the doors, trying to slip in quietly and unnoticed. The lights buzzed overhead, and made her skin seem to glow a smooth ivory tone. Her lean limber body was draped in a black halter top and boot-cut jeans falling over classic black and white Chucks Taylors. Over this, was a long black casual jacket of thin cloth, with long graceful sleeves and an open front; the bottom falling smooth only a few inches from the floor.

Alice pushed a bit of hair from her face, the red tendrils clinging together behind her ear, showing small dazzling bright blue sapphires that were just a shade darker than her eyes.

And without wasting an ounce of time, she moved to the bar and ordered a drink.

"Vodka, please." Her voice was so soft, and elegant in the fact that she was soft-spoken in nature. A low tone, just elevated barely enough to be heard by the man behind the counter. He worked away to quickly fix her drink as she withdrew from her back pocket a crinkled wad of money, and placed the sufficient amount upon the bar for him.

As the glass was set before her, she picked it up and began to move again. Her eyes raised enough to catch the fleeting gaze of a man. When she looked to his face, she was halted in place. A flashing expression, before soon she realized she was staring, seeing things that did not exist.

Her cheeks flushed and she raised her other slender hand to her head, pressing her small lengthy fingers to her forehead. Her blue nails pushed back into her head and she turned towards a small table towards the back, one next to a group of bikers (by the looks, though Alice was no one to stereotype another).

She took her seat, pressing her long black coat beneath her as she folded her arms onto the table and let out a long sigh.

Another sleepless night in the life.

[Guest]

Richard was a great many things, a drunk, hustler, low life, cheat, and many other words beside, but a ladies man? Once maybe… back in high school where all that mattered was how many people you knew even if it was just in passing, and being the basketball team’s star player, he’d known quite a few. There had been the several girls who’d flocked around him and he had rarely gone a weekend without having some cheerleader, volleyball player, or dancer to take to the movies and maybe even dinner. Unfortunately thought, when you grew up and realized all that mattered after grades one through twelve was what you did academically and extra curricular wise, the good looking jock that ended up with graduating with a 2.0 and losing his job seemed far less appealing. Any and everyone that had previously associated with him had long since moved on with their own lives, most of them living far more successful lives that left him in such a state of depression, the only place he could find comfort was the old bar down the street.

All those things were what lead to his absolute shock when a woman took a seat right next to him. Even through his inebriated vision it was easy to tell she was the most beautiful thing in this shit hole, a true angel walking into one of hell’s nine pits, standing out amongst the demons that infested every corner like the luminescent moon in the backdrop of the night sky. From the look on her eyes, he figured she hadn’t really noticed him sitting down. The shadowed corner he was pressed into hid his form well, and it was a fact he relied on, so he could expect no one to bother him. He had the urge to speak to her and initiate conversation, but his mind went back to the amount of beers he’d drunken throughout the night. His good sense was telling him that any word coming out of his mouth would come out sounding like he had a glob of peanut butter in his mouth, despite what his own tow ears would here, and this was probably true, but outside of his three younger brothers, he rarely ever had the opportunity to speak to anyone else.

He brushed a few bangs out of his vision, so he might have a better look. Her expression told him a lot, but the most vocal description of her came from the glass of vodka she had sat on the table. A few fluid ounces all pointing signs that a long fatigued girl who’s had a rough day was sitting in front of him, and beer just wasn’t going to cut it for her. Judging from the look of her, she probably wasn’t going to drink anymore than one or two glasses, just enough to take off the day’s edge, but not nearly enough to make her forget what’s happened. If that was the case, he prided her for it, because if it were him in the same situation, Richard would look exactly how he was now, wasted with the incredibly stupid image of a dazed face with his mouth hanging slightly open. Classy, huh? As undignified as he looked though, he sure he wasn’t the only person in here who’s had a bit too much to drink. The group of bikers who had taken up residence at the pool table he’d just left seemed to be getting even more audible then before.

Scratching at the barely visible stubble lining his chin, his gaze still hadn’t moved away from the woman. It was as if he had suddenly turned into a child again and was entranced by a new shiny object of sorts. Sure there was another woman across the room that didn’t look half bad herself, but she wasn’t as close, and booze made a man lazy. He stared a few moments longer before making his decision. He lifted up the glass cold glass he’d managed to knick off one of the bikers and shivered slightly as the cold condensation that ran down the smooth glass surface and on the his hand. Placing the edge of it to his mouth, he lifted the back up and watched as the front inclined downwards and an amber liquid slid down the slope and scorched his throat and burned his throat all the way down till it hit the pit of his stomach and sat to boil. He winced. Whiskey, out of all the drinks he could have snagged, he managed to get one of the more vile ones. Eighty percent wasn’t going to help the situation any, but it sure as hell woke him up. His eyes shot wide open and his body stiffened with a sudden jolt as he sat the glass down on the table and made his expression seem… well… more sober.

Ironically it was half a glass of whiskey that was going to give him the courage to talk to this woman tonight. Hopefully he could manage it without seeming like a total jackass. Then again, why was he thinking so far into this? The worst that could happen was her ignoring him and moving to a different table. Was the opinion of one decent girl he didn’t even know that important to him? All he could figure was now that he hit rock bottom, he was looking for anything to pull him out.

Rubbing his eyes slightly to ease his throbbing headache, Richard ran took a deep breath and started. “Rough day?” He asked in her direction. His voice coming out a little shaky, but all in all intelligible. He figured pointing out the obvious and sympathizing might be the best path to starting up a conversation. If anything, it would at least make him look a little better than the usual schmucks who walked in here. Though it might look a bit creepy how he suddenly appeared right next to her. Or maybe not. Maybe she’d known he was there the entire time and just sat there because he didn’t look in much of a talking mood. One could never really tell.

[Lucian 'The Wolf' Harth]

As the night went on more and more people entered the small pub. A group of people he hadn't really noticed before seemed to be celebrating a victory. A quick glance from the man's sharp eyes caught that there had been stakes involved.

Congratulations kid, but how long will you be able to hold onto that?

Funds were running low and Lucian quickly remembered one of the reasons he came to places like this. To take money from the drunks. His eyes, however, went back to the nervous man in the corner. He looked towards him and grinned before looking away and leaving the poor man to his business.

There were several other people of interest in this place. Bikers groaning because of the music, the pool players, the people at the bar, the occasional pretty face that would wander up and order a drink. All too familiar to him, and it was somewhat pathetic.

A certain smell wandered into the room, and after a brief inhale Lucian turned his attention to the door. Someone was coming, an all too familiar scent that always meant trouble.

Great, just what I need, another Vampire.

Moments later, a young looking man with dark hair and gauged ears walked through the door, his scent revealing what he really was. A quick glance at the kid and Lucian laughed to himself, realizing quickly that he was no real threat. Still, he was worth keeping an eye on. Most likely a spy for a large house that's trying to send a message to the Lycans. In any case, he'd have to make sure to either leave unnoticed or confront him.

Time went on and people continued to walk through the doors. A couple fairly attractive women arrived, one with two guys and another by herself. They were of little concern, there were more important things to be done here. Although, there was someone that did seem interested in the lone girl with blue nails. The pool hustler woke up from his little nap and made his way over to her. Perfect opportunity.

Lucian stood up, finished his beer, and decided to go around the room once. First stop was the Bikers, who seemed too distracted by taking shots to notice a weight difference in their back pockets. He waited for his opening, and it revealed itself as they began to pour shots. Without drawing attention to himself he quickly made his way behind them, sliding out two leather wallets from two back pockets as quickly and carefully as he could. After the crime was committed, he left the area and walked by the nervous man in the corner, who had obviously been watching him the whole time and seen what he just did. He winked at him as he pushed through the crowd to the other side of the room.

Sitting back down in his initial spot, Lucian pulled out the wallets and counted the contents. One had only forty dollars, but the other had one hundred and eighty.

'Not bad at all... This should hold me over for the time being.

Satisfied with himself, he turned his attention back to the bar tender. The night was still young, and the man was curious about just what else might happen here. "Give me another glass."

Out of the corner of his eye, Lucian could see both the women that were at the bar. After pondering to himself for a short while, he decided to give flirting a try. He hadn't been with a woman in a while, and figured why not. She had two guys with her, but he wasn't worried about that. They could be friends, or brothers, who knew. In any case, they weren't a threat and he wasn't worried about them.

"Barkeep, tell her all of her drinks tonight are on me."

[Eternity]

Alice lifted the glass to her lips, letting little doses of the contents trickle down her throat. Cooling yet powerful, slowly beginning to chip away at the headache she had been having build up in the back of her mind.

She tilted her head downwards, pressing her hands into her hair and sighing quietly.

"That's it! You've dug your grave now Anna Marie, it's time to die in it!"

Her lids closed like a stage curtain over her eyes, her head tilting down and hair falling forward to create a gorgeous red shield of silk to separate the world from her.

An image then swung into her mind.

Leather.
Fingers- masculine and skilled with a slight look to be callous upon then- flipping through the ruffled and eroded edges of green paper.
Money.

A man.
Whiskey.
A voice...

No.
That voice is real...

-"Rough day?" A man spoke.

Her eyes jolted up, instantly searching the man for any sign of threat or ill will. But so far, he just looked like any man who would be found in a bar. Probably one with issues of his own to drink away. Maybe he suffered insomnia like her too.

She turned her head up a bit more, looking through the crowd to the bar.
There a man ran his fingers over money, counting it within two wallets. Her eyes narrowed. Those same fingers. That leather the same color.

It made no sense. Alice could never quite connect the dots.

She snapped her attention back towards the man. Her mind was on a constant roll when it should've been calmer. Again, her crystalline blue hues, like a freshwater frost, fell over him. Analyzing this man. What he could want. Was he lonely? Just trying to socialize? Trying to bed her perhaps?
Any option was as good as what she was guessing at.

"Rough night." Alice finally spoke, her ginger tone of voice relaxing yet carrying a slight twinge of discontentment. She had this headache, one she always had when she couldn't sleep. Maybe she could drink it away, or if not, just wait it out.

She reached up, pushing her hair behind her ears again and sitting upwards to not look like some distressed woman who needed saving. Because she didn't.

"I'm Alice." She said gently, forcing her barely glossed lips into a small smile, before staring back down at her glass of now almost-gone vodka. She didn't want another drink.
If this one didn't help, she doubted another one would.

She needed more than what alcohol could provide her.
She needed answers.
Keys to locks she wasn't sure how to find.

She turned her head back again, seeing the man who had been counting the money.

And she heard his voice in the back of her mind, saw his face flashing through her head.
And as she returned her gaze to this man's profile, she could see him too.
Were they in her future?
Or was she just hallucinating?

[Guest]

Her voice was quite literally music in his mind. The soft smooth tone wrapped around his throbbing head like a blanket and eased his discomfort as he tuned into it and disregarded the hollers of the bikers and other bar patrons, which came off as a teenager’s garage band in comparison to this woman’s orchestra, strange, as he’d never heard either. He sighed mentally, wondering if he should keep talking. She seemed to have a lot of things on her mind, but most likely unwilling to share. Easing back into his seat, Richard stared blankly for a moment, trying to think of something to keep the talk going. Eventually he just let his thoughts drift off.

Gazing curiously at the woman, Alice, he noticed she seemed to be suffering from a discomfort he was all too familiar with. The ever abusive headache. From what he saw, she hadn’t taken but a few sips of her glass, and it was unlikely that she’d be drinking anything other than beer if she was already suffering the ill effects of exhaustion or a migraine. Maybe he was thinking too far into things again. It’s not like he was her doctor, so why should he be worried about how she was feeling. ‘She’s probably just a light weight.’ He figured, drumming his fingers along rough blue fabric at his knee. ‘That’s all it is.’ He dismissed. What if it wasn’t? Should he be ready to assist her somehow, if she suddenly passed out or had… Where the hell was this coming from?

Richard honestly didn’t know what he thinking tonight, and was beginning to regret all the fluid he’d consumed in the past two hours or so. Random thoughts like the ones he’s been having, were uncommon when he was sober, which made him put the blame on the one thing that was beginning to consume half of his life. Booze. His father had been a drunk, and his grandfather and alcoholic, so why not him? He sighed and turned his head out to look at the crowd for a moment. Usual people as far are Richard could tell, with the exception of few new comers. A strange man at the bar who seemed to constantly shifting his gaze around the room. Some twitchy kid who the man at the bar seemed to be most focused on and that other girl who’d walked in with two giants for men on both sides of her. An interesting collection of people if anything.

Shrugging off his wandering thoughts (Or was it the alcohol again?) he turned his eyes back up to her and held his hand out to her. “Richard…” He offered, trying not to sound as intimidating as his deep voice sometimes made him out to be. Keeping his hand up, he rolled his neck a bit to try and get the stiffness out. “Nice to meet you.” He spoke plainly. “I think if anyone’s actually willing to come down to this shit hole just to have a drink, it must be a bit of both.” Referring to her comment about a rough night. He put on his best grin in a small show of sympathy. At this point it was all he had to give.

[Fate Flyer]

The people filing in and out of the joint all seemed to have their own unique story, which was openly revealed on the pages of their faces. Corbin found it fascinating from his position seated alone at one of the oak tables. He watched the lean woman in the long, black jacket take a seat after ordering a drink, only for one of the men nearby to approach her for what sounded like small talk. Corbin focused his hearing on the other end of the bar where they sat, eavesdropping, if you will. He suppressed a smile and returned to his glass of Bud, swallowing a large amount. Despite the growing lightheaded dizziness in his brain, his eyes managed to stay focused, and his body had yet to be fazed by fatigue.

His nostrils suddenly flared up as one of the biker men strolled by, headed toward the bathroom. The musky air he stirred that blew passed Corbin smelled of both human and lycan (in addition to many other scents, most of them too foul to focus on). It was obvious to him now that the man at the bar was, indeed, the one he had been tipped off about by some locals of his own kind. The scent was so obvious to him now, that Corbin was rather surprised at himself for not having smelt it the moment he walked in. Running a hand through his black hair, then leaning his elbows on the table, he starred at the floor near the base of the lycan's chair.

From up at the bar, the white-blonde had no intention of meeting anyone new tonight other than those of the sort she and her two companions had been sent to take out. There was at least one in this bar tonight, but locking onto his location by pinpointing his scent in the frenzy of other mixed aromas was not an easy task.

What the woman had intended for the night though had changed when she heard the man off to her right tell the bartender that all her drinks would be on him tonight. The smaller, fit man that was with her off to her right lifted his head, turned to look at the generous man next to him, eyed the blonde, and then, once she nodded, stood up and went to sit with the other man off to her left that had also come in with her.

With a curious smile, she said enticingly with a hint of a German accent, "Why, thank you."

Corbin raised his head from starring intensely at the floor, his gaze shifting between the man he had been watching to the woman with the light hair whom he had tried to make eye contact with earlier.

Thought I detected that accent when she ordered her drink, he thought to himself. He continued now to watch with both curiosity and jealousy, his mouth watering peculiarly.

"I'm Iris," the white-blonde offered nonchalantly with a slight nod of her head.

The two men she had come in sitting to her left now pretended to be busying their attention with themselves, but as they weren't talking to one another, it was clear to Corbin-the-observer that they were listening in as well.

[Lucian 'The Wolf' Harth]

Lucian watched the two men look over at him, and felt another set of eyes on him as well. The Vampire was obviously watching him, and knew who he was. Odd that such a young Vampire would come looking for him, something else had to be up. He would worry about this later, he had more important things to worry about right now. The White haired woman offered her name, Iris. It was all too easy for Lucian to initiate a conversation if he really wanted to.

"Just call me Lu, Iris. I figure a beautiful woman such as yourself deserves a free drink. If I may be so bold, I'd say she also deserves to be in the company of an actual man as opposed to those two boys you walked into the bar with." He smirked with his last comment, but knew statements like that were very effective depending on the woman.

Lucian looked over at her, right into her eyes. His secret weapon was his eyes. They were so brilliantly silver that every woman that looked into them seemed immediately astonished. This also allowed him to get a clear look at her for the first time. She was very pretty, but Lucian had seen prettier. Tonight wasn't about getting the most beautiful girl in the world, however.

"So what's a flower like you doing in a scum hole like this? What's more, who are the two meat heads?"

[Eternity]

Her eyes rose up to his own, locking on and admiring the soft hues swirling there. The man was handsome, to say the least. He may not have been a perfect bachelor by any standard; but Alice wasn't looking for a one night stand, or really even a long term companionship.

After her nightmares had begun, Alice found herself unable to withstand another's company for a paranoia of something going wrong. Was it the voice in her head? Was it the nightmarish man telling her again and again that she had defied him, and had dug her own grave?

Who would dare to want such an insane woman?

She reached forward, lifting the glass to her lips. The rest of the contents flowed smoothly between them and down her throat. Alice felt like- with the passing time- her head was throbbing worse, and heat spells were hitting her. She wasn't sure what was creating such an influence upon her, but she wouldn't dare to keep her eyes shut for more than a blink now.
God forbid what she might run upon in symbolic foresight.

Her glass was now empty.

Alice tipped the glass back and sat it back onto the flat dim table and looked back to the man as he introduced himself.

"It's nice to meet you too, Richard." She said, repeating his name quietly to assure she did not forget it anytime soon.

She reached up, the black edge of her sleeve sliding down to her wrist from the resting point of her knuckles. Alice opened her palm, blue nails glittering under the light as she gave a moment of hesitation. Her frosty diamond eyes fell on his hand, memorizing the look of it. Then, she extended her fingers and placed her palm against his, thumb sliding over his and their hands creating a simple shake. Ah, his hand was warm.
That was nice.


She pulled her pale slender hand away, and placed it back into her lap.

"So what brings you here- if you wish to talk about it. I- I don't want to intrude upon your privacy, if it's personal." She said, stammering over the fine edges of her ginger voice. It was as though she didn't want to immediately come off as a bossy woman, or intrusive.
Alice didn't want to pull out a handful of give-a-shit for a man she didn't know, but she wasn't going to be cruel. She didn't have the energy, nor the mental collectivity, to be mean or rejecting.

Instead, she tilted her head up again, and stared up at the bar. A woman of blond hair was now talking to the man she had mentally marked off as a thief.
But when she turned her head just lightly, she saw another man. Too many men here.
But this was a different kind of man.

Her head struck into a sharp pain that made her wince, eyes closing. Mistake number one.

Thoughts of another mind flooded into her skull, ripping at her own sanity and suddenly taking over to send her back into a vast phantasmagoria of memories she never recognized.

But it isn't right!

I cannot be stopped, I will die before I let him go!

Something's different.
I was the one.

And you...

Lied?

Her eyes opened and rolled to the left, looking back to the bar as she set her head in her hands and pushed her fingers into her hair, the headache now surely a migraine.

And she stared at the man with a strange recognition- not of who he was, but what he was...

I'll never lay eyes on another vampire again.

She winced again.
"Vampire." Alice whispered so quietly that only herself could truly hear; the graceful exhale inaudible to human ears. Her eyes closed again and a sharp angry male voice broke into her head.

Anna Marie, what have you done?!

"I'm sorry." Alice said in a gasp, leaning back into the seat and pulling her hands down her face. She opened her eyes, and looked at the man, her pupils a bit large but soon slimming down to a normal size.

"I've had a terrible headache for the past few hours, and I think it's getting worse..."

[Guest]

Her hand was soft to the touch; it felt almost alien against his callused flesh. Similar to how a man used to hot moist weather might feel when suddenly thrust into the experience of snow. He let her hand slip from his. Then, he let an empty palm hang in the air before letting it fall back to his knee after a lasting few seconds. The blue material of his jeans crinkled as he gripped his leg joint self-consciously. How long had it been since he’d felt a woman’s touch? Long enough, it seemed, to find it an awkward and unfamiliar sensation.

He wondered briefly how she was judging him. What part of him could she possibly be criticizing at that exact moment? Was it the stench of liquor on his breath? Maybe it was the red veins spider webbing across the white canvas of his sclera, or even the dark shadows underneath. He didn’t feel it though. The sensation of someone picking at his flaws, however small or invisible they might be. Those sparkling orbs seemed to be free of the bias that a person might come under in day to day life, and maybe even. “Concern...” He whispered to himself quietly. It was definitely there. The slight worry that he saw reflected in the eyes of his younger sibling’s everyday.

“What’s bothering you Richie? Why aren’t you ever here?” They would always ask. The best response he could come up with was usually some half ass excuse.

He should be home.

"So what brings you here- if you wish to talk about it. I- I don't want to intrude upon your privacy, if it's personal."

The grip held on his knee loosened and a relieved grin fell over his face. Bringing a hand back up to his bangs, he swept them off to the side of his forehead and out of his line of sight. It gave him confidence to know she was feeling just as nervous. It gave her an aura of innocence that was rare to find in today’s society. It was… cute… Somewhat reminded him of when his sister gave him doe eyes to get out trouble.

Smiling, he blinked and straightened his jacket a bit. “Well…” He began, but stopped as she suddenly winced. Tilting his head he returned the same worried look she had given him just a minute ago. “Are you alright?” He asked in genuine worry. Again there was the fear that she’d just snap at him, telling him it wasn’t any of his business. He watched her shake slightly. She must be in more pain than he originally thought. Tapping his foot, he waited anxiously for her to recover from her dizzy spell, rubbing his on sore temples with his thumb and index finger. When she finally opened her eyes, Richard felt a slight relief, but discomfort was still plainly evident on her face.

"I've had a terrible headache for the past few hours, and I think it's getting worse..."

He considered his words for a minute, but decided if it came out sounding the wrong way, then he could deal with the consequences as they came. She didn’t look good at all. She needed to get some rest. “You’re looking a bit shaky…” He said carefully as he shot her another look. “Would you like me to walk you home? I think it might make you feel a bit better to take an aspirin and get some sleep.”

[Aesalon]

Peter stared at the face of his faux rolex, hoping to somehow undo what he saw there. There was going to be no mysterious savior for Peter Sayles, the appointed time was 20 minutes past, no meeting, no solutions, no hope.

As despair sunk in, so also did a cloudiness upon Peter's mind. The accountant steadied himself against the table, knocking over his half-empty drink. "wait...I didn't order..." Peter began to slur aloud. He stopped and peered around with suspicion - crinkling his face in a concerted effort to remember the events of the last few minutes, the memories of the last few days co-mingling with the ebb and flow of the patronage of this fine pub. The job seemed perfect, except for the guy who kept looking at him the same way that his father looks at a pork-chop. Then there was the white-haired girl at the bus station...no wait, that was not right. His boss was angry about some wolf that kept running around stealing wallets. Peter tried again to shake out the cobwebs in his head. This was doing NO good, "I need to get out of here" Peter thought.

The accountant checked his pocket one last time to ensure that the small 16 Gig flash drive that he had brought from the bank was still there, he stood with the intention of finding the nearest broadcast TV stations and making the contents public. The entire bar swam before his eyes and he stood up and began to walk towards the door, the first two steps were steady, on the third someone pulled the floor out from under him and he fell to the floor with an attention-grabbing "THUD".

The bar falls silent for a moment as all conversation ceases and almost every head turns to see the source of the noise, and within that quick moment of silence the distant sounds of police sirens echo and somewhere above the dampened 'THWAP' of a helicopters blade can be heard.

[Fate Flyer]

The boldness of this lycan who called himself 'Lu' was both intriguing and slightly intimidating to Corbin, who was beginning to feel as if he were not your everyday run-of-the-mill lycan. There was an air of superiority surrounding him, and the vampire could sense it. For the first time that night, he began to feel doubts. He was, after all, not with any covens, especially not in this city, and was simply on an agenda all his own. As probably cowardly as it was to give up on a mission he had set out for himself, it was also wise to know when to step back to preserve your own life.

As these thoughts ran through his head, the dark-haired man gazed into the bottom of his second empty glass of beer, and lazily peered up at the lycan speaking to the blonde.

A bit bewildered, Iris wasn't sure how to respond to Lu at first. Her smile widened, however, and her cheeks flushed ever-so-slightly, but her eyes spoke words of caution and vigilance. When Lu mentioned the men she was with, both had perked their heads up and twisted their bodies around to face the couple, their expressions less than amused. The larger man, who appeared to have a crew cut and looked as if he had once been involved in the military, was scowling now at the other lycan, while the thinner, fit one was raising a brow in what seemed like astonishment, taken aback by the stranger's self confidence.

Iris offered a soft chuckle, despite her companion's eyes burning holes into the back of her head. She motioned with her one hand behind her back in an up-and-down gesture for them to 'cool it.'

"So," she started, thinking carefully, "what, exactly, makes you such a man?" Her question was more curious-sounding, rather than challenging.

When Lu's gaze locked with Iris's though, her slate blue eyes froze over. How were his eyes so silver? Surely, that was unnatural? But she detected no hint of contacts, no vague outline where the contact would have overlapped the pupil. They were captivating, and she found herself drawn in, almost hypnotized, losing herself in the moment.

When he broke their short silence, however, she blinked herself back to reality, the sweet and girlish smile returning to her soft features.

"So what's a flower like you doing in a scum hole like this? What's more, who are the two meat heads?"

She laughed. She simply couldn't help it. Before now, she had never even heard anyone insult Dimitri and Renzo. She could only imagine the looks on their faces now, but she didn't dare turn around to see, especially after having laughed at Lu's comment.

"You got a problem?" suddenly asked the larger of the two men with Iris, Renzo, standing up now to look down on Lu.

None of the three lycans were familiar with Lucian's face, though they each had heard stories about him, varying in vagueness. Not one of them expected to be sitting here with him this night.

Iris now forced herself to spin around, both her eyebrows raised in a pleading manner. She was not interested in starting a fight with one of their own kind. That was not why they were sent here.

Meanwhle, Corbin -- now with a fresh glass of Bud -- was sitting in amusement, having decided to abandon all his slaying plans tonight and simply enjoy himself in other ways. He suppressed a laugh when the man in the corner had gotten up and fallen to the floor, though his snort had been heard by all those nearby, since the bar had fallen silent just then.

Renzo took his gaze off Lucian to the source of the bang, laying eyes on the fallen man. Iris, too, followed his gaze. Dimitri now stood up next to Renzo, having heard the sirens and helicopter blades moments before the humans in the bar had. Iris's eyes flashed back to Lu, concern and confusion written on her face.

[Eternity]

Alice rubbed her temples as the man seemed to silence. How awkward this must be now. She felt like she wanted to walk away, after having surely embarrassed herself. She finally tilted her head up, soft lips parting to take in a deep breath.

"That sounds nice... I don't want you to think I'm trying to take advantage of you though... I just think I might be better off to go on home."
I don't want to go alone...

The fragile looking woman leaned back and then snapped her head to the side when a loud 'THUD' sounded through the pub. Her eyes scanned the floor, seeing a man there.
Then, it was heard. The thrumming sound of a helicopter- maybe two. The sirens in the distance of police cars.

She then stood up, a bit hazy at first as her head seemed to strain and twist, the migraine eating at her balance. Alice winced and then moved forward more normally than before. Her converses made soft taps against the floor as she moved towards him. Her black jacket twisted around her as she quickly knelt down to the stranger, and touched his neck with her pale smooth hand, turning her fingers along his face.

"Sir..." She began quietly. "Sir, can you hear me?" She whispered. Alice turned her head up, spotting a group of people. One man, who had silver eyes.

Her migraine, right then, wrenched into her stomach and made her wince again as pain erupted onto her face. One hand leapt up to her head as she clutched the side of her face. If she could explain the feeling, it was like being hit in the side of the face with a brick. Alice then flicked her gaze back up to the silver eyed man, and the one she oddly felt like was a vampire. The two were not normal.
Something here was so very very wrong.

Then, another surge of pain. What was this recognition?

Her eyes closed and her mind wrenched back into a memory that was not her own...



"You can't do this!" Anna Marie screamed at her godfather.

"Anna Marie, what have you done?!" He shouted, before drawing his hand up and slapping the woman across her face. She fell with his strike onto the wet ground, the rain running down her face.

"Father, why?" Her voice cracked, as she tilted her head up, soft frosty blue eyes seeming to glow from behind the curtain of wet tendrils of black hair.

"Is it true? A vampire? Are you pregnant, is that possible? Did you love him, did he feed from you? What kind of stupid wench have you become!"

"How do you know?" She whispered, trying to ignore the hatred in his voice.

Anna Marie tilted her head to the far west of the estate, where she saw a faint silver glimmer with a touch of blue.

"Vampires aren't the only thing out there, Anna Marie."



Alice cracked her eyes opened and looked back to Richard.
She needed to get out of here, but she didn't want to flee the pub with a stranger with the cops coming. How odd could that look?
And he could probably get charged for being drunk in public.


Alice scoffed mentally, her hand still resting on the stranger's face as her thoughts began to storm back and forth.
When she blinked, flashing images of angry police men, guns, and possibly SWAT members appeared. Another image of fangs, of claws, of blood.

Alice opened her crystalline blue eyes and felt her stomach twist.

"Things are about to go horribly wrong..."

Let me out Alice. Let me out...

[Lucian 'The Wolf' Harth]

Lucian smiled softly at Iris' reaction. He hadn't noticed it initially, but he now knew that her and her two companions were Lycans. Not that it really mattered, the two men weren't familiar to Lucian, so they couldn't be of any significance. Iris was beginning to fascinate him. She seemed so shy and timid, yet she bossed the two men around like they were mere children.

"So, what, exactly, makes you such a man?"

Just as he was about to answer this question, he heard something strange in his distance. Focusing his senses, he quickly identified the source. Police cars, and a helicopter. They were headed straight for them But why? Who were they after? In any case, Lucian couldn't afford to deal with human authority figures at this particular moment. He was forced to make up his mind, and he decided that he would be leaving shortly.

"You got a problem?"

The pup's words fell on deaf ears, as Lucian was quickly trying to figure out the reasoning behind the arrival of law enforcers. Being an elder with highly developed senses, he knew he had heard the sirens far before anyone else in the bar. From the three Lycans sitting next to him to the Vampire in the corner, none of them were close to Lucian's level.

Suddenly, there was another noise. 'THUD' The awkwardly nervous man had rose from his seat and collapsed. OF COURSE! It all made sense now. His nervousness, the sudden alert of the police, why couldn't he sense it before! This human had something, and whatever it was he wasn't suppose to have. The other female in the room, the blue nailed Alice, quickly rushed to the man's side. It was also around this time that Iris seemed to hear the sirens as well. She looked at Lucian with a concerned look on her face. The elder Lycan abandoned his cocky flirtatious attitude, and replaced it with a stern seriousness that he had developed over thousands of years of practice.

"We are leaving. Now. My full name is Lucian Harth, and all you need to know is something is up. You can either come with me or face the humans on your own." Lucian quickly stood from the seat and pushed his way through the crowd. He grabbed the nervous man on the ground by his shirt collar, pulled him up, looked into his eyes and simply stated "Your coming with me."

Lucian pulled the accountant to his feet and kept a firm grip on his shirt collar as he headed for the door to leave the pub. He had no idea what was going on, who this human was, what he had on him, or even why he was suddenly helping three younger Lycans escape from this place. Was it because Iris was starting to intrigue him? Or was it merely because he found her attractive? In any case, fate had seemed to throw them all together. The time for action was now. He glanced back at the Vampire with a 'Follow me if you dare' smirk on his face just before opening the glass door to the pub and walking out into the streets.

[Aesalon]

Through his blurred vision Peter saw an angel kneeling over him..."not so bad..." he whispered before realizing that the hard wood floor of the 'Twisted Snake' was still beneath him. No, not an angel he thought as his mind remembered the girl who had been sitting with the pool player. As his mind, cleared somewhat by the fall, slowly came to focus on the sounds of the strike team coming.
Peter Sayles was rarely clear-thinking under pressure, but something about the conflict in the young woman's face reminded him of his own. Peter reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a memory stick, and eased it into her hand. The noise of the helicopter had drawn exceptionally close,
and suddenly the patrons of the bar seemed to suddenly all need to be somewhere else, Pete felt a giant hand wrap around his collar, and with an unearthly strength he was pulled to his feet.
"Your coming with me" said the silver-eyed giant to Peter, with what seemed to be a terrifying snarl, and Peter was practically dragged through the door, fear for his life left behind in resolve of his doom, Peter now was concerned that he had simply drawn more innocents into the web of chaos that he had uncovered...

[Guest]

As Alice turned her head, Richard followed her eyes, spotting the man just as he fell. When the woman rose to get up, he instinctively reached out to grab her arm, but was to slow as she dashed over to the fallen man’s side. The first guess he had, was the guy had too much to drink, but as memory serves, he hadn’t touched a glass in the whole few minutes he’d been there. Something wasn’t right about this whole thing, and instinct was telling him to grab the girl and get going, but with that crowd in the way it might take a bit longer than expected.

Sliding his leather jacket on, he casually stepped through the crowd just as the man staring at the fallen bar patron from earlier, picked up the latter and, quite literally, dragged him out the door. As the door swung back and forth for a moment, giving a bit of a squeak as it did so, a few looked on, but quickly resumed back to their previous business, which seemed to mostly involve more alcohol.

Shoving past a rather heavy set man, he step up quietly behind Alice and rested a hand on a dainty shoulder. He felt a little awkward in doing so, but it was too late to take back the action back, so he kept his hand there a moment longer. “Hey, I’m not so sure what’s going on, but you want to take up my offer now?” He doubted she’d say no. She seemed a little weirded out herself, and he already found himself gently nudging her towards the door. Okay so it may seem a bit forceful, but he supposed he could have been dragging her.

[Eternity]

Alice felt the tiny memory chip slip into her grip, and she closed her hand around it.
Her eyes fell shut as her fingers curled around the tiny object...


Police.
Blood.
Hooded men.
Darkness...
Wolves...
Fangs and claws and silver eyes.
A woman, with long black hair and sharp claws of silver, and eyes almost matching.
That man.
Richard... A sober Richard...
Herself, not even being herself...

Her eyes opened to see Richard's hand on her shoulder, him nudging her just gently towards the door. Alice quickly found her step up to her feet, making long strides for the door.
She turned her head, blue eyes seeking the vampire through the tendrils of red.

Nothing made sense.

She stretched her body forward, one hand reaching back and taking Richard's. Her long thin fingers curled around his wrist and she turned her glance to his, crystal blue eyes flickering with worry and the obvious message that indeed they did need to get out. The sirens of the police were getting louder. Outside a window could be seen the large light of a helicopter rolling down the street.
Searching.
Scanning.

She opened her other hand as she pushed through the door, and saw the chip. With a quick gesture, she slipped the thing into the pocket of her jeans, and turned back to Richard, her disorganized thoughts crashing her into his chest in a light manner. She threw up her hand against his chest and looked up at him, wishing that vodka wasn't making her hasty and distorted thoughts so ... hasty and disorganized.

Alice shook her head and turned back to the street.

"I-I'm sorry. Where are we going to go?" Alice closed her eyes and wanted to smack herself.
Their original desire was her place.

"I live two blocks away, in 32B, that's my apartment." She whispered, looking back at Richard once more.

[Fate Flyer]

The sound of the many sirens fast approaching was enough to stir most of the patrons of the pub from their seats, if not out of curiosity, then out of fear or guilt. Even the bartenders cocked a brow or stretched over the counter to get a better look out the windows, worried -- for their business -- what all the commotion could possibly be about. It was the helicopters that were what got everyone's hearts really racing though. Choppers accompanying the police could only mean something serious.

Iris and Corbin both seemed to understand in the same instant, and almost by intuition, their eyes met, and the same distressed and anxious expression had etched itself over their faces. Iris' look of concern though turned into a frown before she pulled her eyes away from the dark man to quickly decipher Lu's thoughts. She didn't have to contemplate long though, for he spoke quickly.

"We are leaving. Now. My full name is Lucian Harth, and all you need to know is something is up. You can either come with me or face the humans on your own."

Iris' eyes widened at the new information she was processing. Lucian Harth? The Lucian Harth -- the elder? Dimitri and Renzo seemed to have been thinking the same thing, for their defensive stances they had initially taken in opposition to Lucian now relaxed at little in the confusion. They all had no time to ponder just why Lucian was here in this bar with them tonight, for he was already pushing through the crowd and now picking up the man, who Iris and Corbin had figured was the one responsible for all this, and was carrying him out the door.

"Come on," she urged in a low and serious tone to her two male companions. They exchanged a glance and then nodded to her.

Before chasing after Lucian, Iris couldn't help but throw a sympathetic look Corbin's way. She had no idea what sort of odd connection they had shared, nor did she care to figure it out right now, but her senses were screaming at her that he could not possibly be human, and if that were the case, she hoped he would not allow himself to get into any trouble here either. Corbin responded by offering his raised eyebrows and a frown in a 'Sorry-to-see-you-go' sort of way.

Just when she thought she would be saying goodbye to this stranger she had never even met yet, Iris turned around to see Lucian ahead of her in the doorway giving him a challenging smirk before emerging onto the city streets. Iris shot her head back around to the darker man, who stood up immediately with a sigh but wearing a smile. Though neither Dimitri or Renzo had either been trained or learned yet how to smell the difference between a vampire, a lycan, and a human, their apprehension surrounding this man seemed to originate from the same instinctual feeling as Iris'. Their scowls only grew as they quickly urged Iris through the doors, staying close to her back. Corbin, taking the hint, followed a bit farther behind, taking a moment to mess up his hair before exiting the pub, leaving most of the people still remaining, including those working behind the bar, extremely perplexed.

"Where are we going?" Iris dared to ask. Her tone though was no longer sweet and innocent. Now, it was lower and more urgent, a voice she reserved for both confrontations and commanding, the latter being more rare, though she did seem undeniably suited for it.

They kept close to Lucian, Iris devoting all her trust in him for the time being, and Dimitri and Renzo having faith in their superior pack mate, whom they had been sent to guard and watch while on one of her frequent nightly patrols. Iris did not truthfully know much about Lucian, other than that he was old. Now though, being in his presence, it was as if he were no older than she (which, in reality, was older than a person could live to be). Now that she was at his side, he seemed so much less like the legend and much more solid, much more real. She had to admit though, he was already impressing her.

"Don't suppose any of you folks could explain what's going on here!?" prodded Corbin, running up from behind Renzo and Dimitri, who scowled at him as he passed.

[Lucian 'The Wolf' Harth]

Once outside the door, Lucian's top priority became getting as far away from the scene as he possibly could before the authorities showed up. Humans always made things entirely more difficult than they needed to be, and he really didn't feel like getting shot at today.

"Where are we going?" Lucian heard Iris' voice behind him, and was glad she had took his advice.

"Away from here. I hope you can keep up." With that said Lucian picked up the human into a fireman's carry. He could hear the sirens closing in on them, they couldn't have been any more than a few blocks away. He took a deep, relaxing inhale, calmed his muscles and closed his eyes. After a short instance, he bolted down the street as fast as any car driving down it would. He ran for several blocks until he found an alley, which he turned into and stopped, placing the human down. Once the others had caught up Lucian turned to face them, displeased to see that the Vampire had followed them.

"What the hell are you doing here? It would be in your best interest to leave before I decide to take you out." Lucian had no tolerance for Vampires, a trait he developed from over two thousand years of fighting them. He decided to dismiss the idea that he was present and focused on the three other Lycans that had recently joined his company.

"I'm not sure what's going on, but perhaps our friend the human here can clear things up for us. When you walked into the bar, you seemed unusually nervous. Who is following you, and why? It would be wise to answer truthfully, we have ways to tell if your lying."

[Aesalon]

“Who is following you, and why? It would be wise to answer truthfully; we have ways to tell if you’re lying." The man with the silver eyes used them to bore holes through Peter’s skull.
The haze clouding Peter’s mind had been slowly clearing in the night air, clear enough to know that they only had a few moments before the strike team was upon them. “You are all in danger.” He said to them with a strange calm that was completely foreign to him. Looking at the five people standing around him he saw no fear, curiosity maybe and a hint of suppressed mirth.
“Agents of Eclipse? The government? The Wicked Witch of the West?” The accountant paused, deciding to begin with what he knew for sure to be true. “Okay, I worked at Eclipse International Bank a few weeks ago on an audit, one night I was working late and I was able to get into a private security vault.” Peter thought for a second about explaining how, but these people would not believe him, and the explanation would take too much time. “I was drawn to look at the PC sitting in the center of the room, and I saw some…files, having to do with some trillion – with a ‘T’, dollar transactions, so curiosity got the better of me and I looked further. There was a lot of scientific hocus pocus about human blood augmentation that I sorta skipped over – until something about a living subject being over 400 years old caught my eye.”
Peter noted a bit of a reaction to that from his audience…all except the silver-eyed giant who continued his withering glare. “Then there were government contracts signed by some serious Fed heavies, I am talking cabinet members here.” Peter paused to listen as a scream echoed down the street. “Anyway, I loaded everything from that file onto a memory stick that I always carried with me – but apparently that triggered an alarm. I escaped the bank, I don’t know how, but I did.” For a moment he thought about going into the rest of the details from the file, about spells, incantations, vampires and other fairy tales, but he knew that they would not believe him.
“They have already killed dozens to get to me, they may look like police, but they aren’t – some kind of special forces maybe, but when they came to my apartment one of them ripped my door off the hinges with his bare hands…” Peter stopped cold as the sound of gunfire erupted from somewhere in the direction of the Twisted Snake…

[Fate Flyer]

"You better get out of here." Iris' words were slow, direct, and pressing, but an air of concern lay in the undertone. She had read the way her companions had reacted to his presence, and she thought it wise he did not accompany them.

Corbin eyed her mysteriously before coming to a halt where Lucian had finally stopped in a secluded alleyway. To his surprise, Lucian's gaze shot up at him like a bullet, and he demanded that Corbin leave, lest he 'take him out.' Confused, Corbin was not sure if this man was serious. Clearly, he was not human. Was he lycan then? Corbin couldn't tell, but he was safe now, away from the whoever-it-was that were approaching the bar. Deciding it best to count his blessings and not spoil his luck, Corbin turned to go. He was not interested in a fight, especially with a gang this size.

Iris's frown deepened. Why had Lucian threatened him? Did he know him? She was forced to dismiss this though after Corbin disappeared behind the adjacent building as Lucian started questioning the human in his possession.

The explanation the man offered was intriguing, to say the least. It sounded as if this Eclipse bank did a little more than just personal transactions. As his story continued, Dimitri and Renzo, clearly out of the league here, were keeping watch for them, though it was more so out of fear and nerves than their duty. When the man finished, Iris looked startled. These agents, or whoever they were, had already killed dozens to find this man just to retrieve his flash drive. Clearly, the information he had stumbled upon was vital.

[Eternity]

Alice began to walk with Richard down the sidewalk, heading towards her apartment. But they didn't even reach a full block's distance before the police- or some form of task force- arrived. At first, a few spun past them, but one car stopped, headlights bright and shining down the two.

Richard stuck close to her, one hand on her shoulder. Alice felt it; fear. Rising in her gut, making her want to vomit. Time seemed to slow down, sweat forming on her brow as a man stepped out of the car, holding up his hands.

"Against the wall." He said.

Alice's heart began to thunder in her chest, hammering so loudly she thought that maybe the others could hear it. Without knowing it, the woman had begun gnawing on her lips, turning them a bright red as her teeth bit down on them. Her eyes seemed to roll forward until she saw her right pocket, and the tiny rectangular bulge of the memory drive slid beneath the denim. Her fingers twitched nervously as the man from the car stepped forward.

She felt Richard's fingers digging into her shoulder. It was now or never.

Like a wild gazelle in the lion's sight, Alice shot off into a sprint. Her body had twisted left, and she blinked once, before her legs began stretching and burning, her feet pounding against the pavement as her red hair danced like a renegade flame behind her.

Her blue eyes searched immediately some escape, but found none. She could hear Richard short behind her, running fast, breathing hard. Soon he was beside her, and she realized that they were in this together now.

The man had gotten back into his car, and sounded his siren, knowing then that something was up with the two. The car was, obviously, faster than the two mortals though. Soon it was racing on up close to them, nudging Alice to run faster, harder.

The driver leaned his arm out of the window.

"Stop now!" he called out, but the two didn't respond to his words.
Richard nudged her, and looked to a thin alley that the officer wouldn't be able to follow while in his car. As they neared it, Richard turned off, but one gunshot broke into the brick, inches from Alice's chest- halting her from following him.

"Alice!" Richard called back, before Alice turned and ran again, straight down the sidewalk.

The car was going faster, and bullets were riding closer and closer to her.
She had the chip, this was her new responsibility.

Come Alice, I can run faster than you... Let me out...
Set me free...

Alice closed her eyes and stumbled, throwing her arms out as she let out a yelp of pain. Her palms scraped the sidewalk, and left a soft bloody smear as she closed her eyes.
This was it, she was going to be captured now...

That was when it happened.
The feeling of being ripped from her body swept over her, sending Alice racing into the back of her mind by some unknown force.

Darkness surrounded her. She screamed, but lips did not move, eyes did not open.
She slammed her hands up, but hit a wall of sorts; realizing that her body was no longer under her control.




Eyes opened. Twisting, a smooth sweet blue. Even though she looked just like Alice, the woman had a new look to her. A new aura, a stronger persona. It was stern, and solemn, and trained in the art of escape.


Anna Marie shot forward, pushing off the ground with one hand. And unlike Alice's hasty stumbling flee, Anna Marie ran like a track star. Her legs stretched in long bounds, her red hair a straight dousing candle flame in her wake. Her eyes focused on the road, and Alice sat in the back of her mind watching in disbelief.

The way Anna Marie saw it all; the way she pointed out escapes versus weak points in the road. Places to run, places to attack, places to be the victim or the enemy.

Anna Marie turned sharp then, taking a turn. Her converses dug into the pavement, rubber grinding against the concrete. Again, she took off. Her eyes found several places now. A right turn at the end of this corner.

At that corner, she dug her heels into the earth and sprung to her right, spinning off and racing again. The car seemed to grow more distant in sound with the more turns she took.

At last, she spotted a thinner alley, between an art studio and an old abandoned theater.

Anna Marie turned again, and found herself slipping through the shadows, ducking down finally as she reached the center.

She held her hands up to the light, seeing the dots and lines of blood, risen from that scrape against the pavement. Thin peels of light pale flesh curled back, and particles of dirt smeared into the wound.
It stung horribly.

"This was foolish." Anna Marie said, one tone deeper than Alice's sweet voice, and the words tinted with a delectable Italian accent.

"Now, what it is that they want..." She then looked down to her pocket, and ran her fingertips over the pocket where the chip was held.

"Hm..."

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