Partitione - R

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

Olivia couldn’t adequately explain how livid she was by the time she was hurriedly slipping into her jacket and throwing open the door to the precinct. Fucking…asshole! If she could jab a stake through his heart she would willingly do so to rid herself of the incredible pest he was becoming. Olivia hated, absolutely despised, when people peeled her of her cool and he was no exception. Waking up in the morning again just to eventually see his face set off a thick ball of anger in her stomach, bubbling up to her chest.

Olivia didn’t go home to the apartment straight away in fear of Alexander being on the cruel receiving end of her fury. So, as an alternative, she trailed along the boardwalk, letting out long exhales as she watched the dark sea slap at the beams that held the dock, a cornucopia of moonlight spilling across the water, making an almost ethereal vision. Whenever Olivia felt the tiniest sliver of an urge to return to Himmel, sights like these often coaxed it out of her head.

She sat down on the edge of the dock, sliding her legs through the gaps of the safety guard as she allowed it to dangle freely, before pressing her cheek against the metal and allowing the lids of her eyes to close. The pungently sweet smell of sea salt and the lapping of the waves lulled her into an almost natural lullaby, body slipping from its conscious state.

”* Die consilium ist mein Gott, ich bin nichts anderes als ein ewiger Diener,” the group of children repeated over and over until the words seared Ehren’s throat. Her dark brunette locks were tied back in uncomfortable braids, the fabric of her skirt scraping against the skin of her legs as she astutely watched the older, adult woman pace back and forth.

Boys were to wear clean, wing-tipped blouses to school over trousers, while girls wore ankle-length skirts and disgustingly girly chiffon blouses. Ehren hated it, hated being treated like a mindless zombie, made out to repeat words and not know the true meaning of them. But she had to force the prayers from her lips or else she would be dragged to The Commons on an old trolley for children that were unruly. She had stood outside of the building one day and watched a boy about her age stumble down the steps with bruises scattering his skin and a vacant stare in his eye. It had appalled Ehren to the point of nausea and tears before she was running off down the streets.

But today, out of all the days, she found herself slowly slipping away from submission, fingers twitching in the lap of her skirt as that rowdy resentment overwhelmed her being. Why did she have to do this? Every day they repeated the same thing until they were blue in the face and these words meant nothing to her! It had gradually began to drive Ehren crazy until her lips abruptly shut, sound seizing to escape her.

“Ehren Vormund, is there an issue?” the woman questioned, her hair tightly pulled back into a bun, body modestly covered by a long-sleeved dress. Her eyes were a darkened gold, mouth tight against her skin as she frowned viciously at the young girl.

Oh any other occasion she would have slumped back sheepishly in her chair before continuing on with the prayer, but this time her back was rigid against the wood, orbs courageously narrowing at the instructor as she spat, “Yes, there is an issue! An issue with us being taught stupid, useless prayers! What about knowledge, ma’am? What about learning about what we’re speaking and not just speaking it, to speak it? What about that?”

The class simultaneously gasped, but Ehren used it as the fire to fuel her words.

“We’re worshipping a group of stupid people we know nothing about! I’m sick of it! Sick of all of this!”
As expected, the instructor only tilted her head, something smoldering in her dying, gold pools, fingers curling around the phone as she made one phone call. It was all it took before the special creatures came and got her, storming in through the classroom as their arms tightened around her flesh like manacles.

She screamed directly into the craters where their eyes should have been, stitched closed with golden thread, as she wailed against their grip, screaming, “I’m-I’m sorry! Die consilium ist mein Gott, ich bin nichts anderes als ein ewiger Diener! Die consilium ist mein Gott, ich bin nichts anderes als ein ewiger Diener!”

Her words had fallen on deaf ears though as the beasts dragged her through the door, fingers clawing at the threshold until a clear fluid were shrouding her hands. Her cries reached near shrieks before she was silenced by a sharp stick in her arm, walls blurring as she was taken to the house where the naughty kids were disciplined.

“Die consilium ist mein Gott, ich bin nichts anderes als ein ewiger Diener!” Olivia screamed at the sky, water pooling in her eyes as she stared violently at her surroundings to see the London Eye gazing back at her, the lights dimmed.


* The Consilium is my God, I am nothing but an eternal servant.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rosabeth]

{name:Dom#|#picture:54}

It wasn't until Dom was well out of the building and walking along the darkened streets that a thought came to his mind that should have been there from the start. If the Sabia were found guilty of the murder of the 26 missing humans, William and his wife, Isabelle, would be found guilty along with them. Dom may have guaranteed his own safety should the worst happen yet he had not taken a moment to think about the people who for all intents and purposes were his parents. Dom swore, slamming his fist against a nearby wall and earning a startled look from a passing woman who quickened her pace. All Dom's frustration and anger, most of which stemmed back to Olivia, dissipated in an instant. She didn't matter - William and Isabelle did.

Before he could talk himself out of it Dom nearly ran to the tube station. He had to warn them. If he could not protect them, which he doubted he could, he had to at least give them fair warning. Perhaps they could go somewhere else until this all blew over. Dom couldn't see the Consilium going to lengths to track down mere dhampirs just to enforce an ancient law... or would they? Coven Law was a decrepit, senseless rule, one that had long outlived its purpose. To punish a coven as one instead of punishing the individuals was absurd, not to mention unheard of with any other species. It was no secret that the Consilium were not the biggest fans of vampires, especially those on Earth, but to enforce Coven Law was to imply that there was no sense of autonomy within a coven. And to imply that dhampirs had as much fault as the vampires themselves was more insulting than anything else.

The night was still young by the time Dom appeared on the doorstep of the Coven's house, and Dom hoped that because of that Daniel would be far away. He knocked quickly on the door, staring up at the tightly-shut windows as he waited. After a minute he heard rustling inside, followed by the sound of the deadbolt being slid out of the lock before the door swung open.

"Dom, what are you doing here?" said Isabelle, grabbing Dom by his shoulders and all but pulling him into the house, wrapping him in a hug. Dom returned the hug, but his eyes were fixed on the other dhampirs who loitered around the house, all eyes turned on him at the sound of his name. When Isabelle pulled back she studied Dom's face with that probing look of hers, making Dom feel like a small child who'd done something wrong. He slid from her grasp, moving further into the house and ignoring the eyes that followed his every step.

William was just where Dom had expected, sitting at the kitchen table with a few other dhampirs, cards in their hands and poker chips between them. At Dom's entrance William looked up from his cards, but he did not smile as had Isabelle. He set his cards down, giving warning looks to the other players, and came over to Dom who was leaning against the counter.

"What's going on?" William asked in a hushed voice. Dom looked towards the other dhampirs, most of who weren't even being discreet about their eavesdropping, and shook his head. He led William out of the room and down the hall, gesturing for Isabelle as they passed by. Once they were out of earshot of most of the dhampirs, Dom leaned in close to William and Isabelle.

"There's something I need to tell you, something you should be aware of."
"What's wrong, Dom? Something's happened," said William, grabbing Dom's arm.
"Are you in some sort of trouble?" asked Isabelle, growing more concerned by the second.
"No, I'm not in trouble, but you might be."
William and Isabelle looked at each other with alarm, but they weren't given the chance to respond, for at that second someone stepped into the hall.

"Hello, Dom."

Dom stared at Margaux with wide eyes, unable to think of anything coherent to say. He turned quickly back to William, giving him a pointed look.
"Sorry, I would have said something but you looked concerned," he shrugged.

"Can we talk?" asked Margaux, taking a step closer to Dom and putting one hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off in instinct, glaring at Margaux with undue hostility. She didn't look particularly hurt by the look, only fixing her eyes on him and refusing to move away. Dom sighed, realizing there would be no getting out of this. He looked back to William and Isabelle but they both nodded, silently promising to speak later. Before Dom could change his mind they slipped from the hall, leaving him and Margaux alone in the hall.

"It's good to see you," said Margaux, taking a step closer to Dom. He tried to keep his expression apathetic, but as he fixed his eyes on hers he found that was impossibly difficult. She was just as beautiful as ever, her blonde hair chopped to just above her shoulders and curled lightly around her face, her icy blue eyes wide and piercing. She almost looked human, but as she curled her lips into a wide smile Dom caught a glimpse of her sharp fangs, dispelling the illusion. Margaux was not human. She was not the same person.

"How do you like the Sabia?" Dom asked, feeling the question was rather redundant. It wasn't as if she would speak out against them - no coven member ever would, especially not one so young and impressionable. Still, he couldn't think of any other question to ask.

"Dom, this isn't your fault," she sighed, reaching one hand up to his cheek. He simultaneously flinched and relaxed at her touch, feeling disgusted with himself. "I know you feel bad that I'm like this but really I couldn't be happier. Life is so much more ... fulfilling this way. I can do things I've always wanted to do, I'm more powerful than I ever would have been, and I'm immortal. What could be better?" Margaux conveniently left out the part about being a mindless leech with murderous tendencies, but that was hardly a surprise. To her, her personality had not changed. She could not see the differences Dom saw from the outside. Her mind was too altered by the coven.

"You know," she began, creeping even closer still, "things are different now. I know we didn't always get along when I was human, and I know we didn't always see eye-to-eye, but I'm different now. I'm better. I'm better at more than one thing..."

Suddenly Margaux's lips were on his and the shock kept Dom from doing anything about it. Her lips were warm and her body soft, and as she pushed Dom up against the wall he found his hands going to her body without thinking. His thoughts were a mess, incoherent where they even existed. All he could focus on was the feeling of her kiss and the fact that he was kissing her back against his better judgement. It had been so long since he'd been with anyone - far longer than he would have liked - and Margaux's touch was so welcome it almost made him forget where he was and who Margaux had become. Almost.

While her hands slipped down his chest, her lips moved down his neck, and in his hazy thoughts Dom didn't even think about what that meant. All of the sudden Dom was hit with a sharp, tearing pain at his neck and he cried out in agony. Margaux's fangs sunk into his neck, her hands moving to hold his head in place as she began to drink. Dom struggled uselessly against her hold, growing weaker with each passing second. Though Dom's strength was usually on par with a vampire's, a vampire bite made any struggle useless. For a human, being fed off was much like being on sedatives. After the initial pain they'd be lulled into a calm, dazed state, and once the feeing stopped they'd either lay there in a trance like state or pass out on the spot. For a dhampir the effect was much the same, but he recovered a hundred times as fast, and so the drug-like effects only worked for a few moments before the pain returned, and as long as the vampire continued to fade the dhampir would oscillate between pain and a strange sort of pleasure.

In one of the brief windows of pain Dom managed to summon enough strength to grab Margaux's head and pull her from his neck, though as her fangs ripped from his neck he nearly screamed in the blinding pain. He shoved her as far from his body as possible, taking a quick glance at her face, his blood trickling from her mouth, before running down the hall. He pressed his fingers to his neck as he ran hoping to slow the blood flow from the rip, immensely thankful for his body's healing capabilities. As he threw open the front door and bolted out onto the street he cursed at the top of his lungs, more disappointed in himself than he'd ever been. Margaux was no different from the rest. He was a servant to them, nothing more than a bodyguard and a meal. Nothing had changed.

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

As expected, Olivia had felt the grips of fatigue shroud her like a cloud, the coffee hardly doing anything to assuage her bloodshot eyes, and slumped posture. The nightmares usually came and went in dotty patterns – her last one seven months ago. But whenever they did occur, the following day was always draining. Which was exactly why she could hardly bother herself with letting the typical dread of meeting Dominic bother her. Arguing with him required too much energy, and quite frankly, she wasn’t particularly willing to spend it on him.

They were meeting at a small side café in Abbots Langley, a large village on the outskirts of London, to investigate the Pururi Coven. It hadn’t really been of much surprise to her that Dominic would be late, and fifteen minutes late, at that. On any regular basis, she would have shrugged off his absence and taken each precious second she had alone, but she had promised Alexander she would attend some Poetry Slam he had entered himself in since apparently it was his new ‘fling’ and she’d be damned if she missed it. In spite of her need to rip away from her roots as fylgha, helping others achieve their good fortune sustained her.

Fortunately, a familiar body rounded the corner, dark hair an unruly mess around his jaw, clothes as equally disheveled. Olivia couldn’t help but lift her brows slightly before returning to the menu placed on the table and waiting until he took a seat in front of her to speak.

“Seventeen minutes late,” she murmured, orbs hardly making contact with his. She didn’t have to bring it up, but out of pure instinct she did anyways. Pointing out Dominic Foster’s flaws had grown to be a subconscious habit of hers; a habit she didn’t mind much, regardless.

“The Pururi Coven should be the least of your worries,” he declared, completely ignoring her previous statement, “they haven’t stepped foot in London in over ten years.” There was a vacancy to his words that mildly surprised her (although Olivia knew better than to show it), in stark contrast to the cynical sarcasm that had annoyingly radiated from him the previous night. She vaguely wondered what could have happened to him in the capacity of ten hours that had driven him to such a mental slump, but she couldn’t gather enough care to inquire about issues that had nothing to do with the task at hand.

Instead, her lips formed a hard line before she was nodding to herself incredulously. “And you couldn’t tell me this before I drove forty five minutes out here?” Olivia hardly had any time for his mind games. If he was going to end up fucking her over, she’d try her luck completing the case on her own.

Again, his face remained perfectly deadpan, only shrugging. “Your efforts may not go completely to waste; they’re as much a suspect as any.”

Olivia blinked at him once, then twice, before grunting to herself. In all of her years in the business she had never meant someone that was so frustratingly hard to predict. “I suppose that could be true. The Pururi are as traditional as they come, except for going against their belief of staying in the Underworld. They view human blood like one would view a potent drug; difficult to obtain but irrevocably addicting. A vampire flips out, and using his or her coven’s reputation as a shield, travels into the city and kills humans for the special commodity in which they seek.”

“Or they could be framing one of the inner-city Covens. Just because we’re somewhat of the same race doesn’t mean we’re all singing kumbaya while holding hands,” he responded, tone as hard as ice, and eyes even frostier.

“I didn’t say—”

“Now instead of wasting time at a café discussing details when we could be acting on them, I would personally suggest we search for a scent to get this day squared away in a timely fashion.”

With that, the Dhampir rose swiftly from the table just as the waitress made her way over, disappearing into the crowd as he started for the exit, leaving Olivia in a flurry of anger and confusion.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rosabeth]

{name:Dom#|#picture:54}

The Pururi weren't ones for humans, and as such they were pretty easy to find. It was so much easier to hide in a crowd; a main reason for most vampires' love of cities like London, but in a little town like Abbots Langley there was nowhere to hide. Dom had only ever been here once before on a visit with the coven a decade ago, but despite the time since his last visit he remembered exactly where the Pururi lived. A cluster of houses surrounded an old church on the north side of the town, a rural area near the outskirts, and the coven lived in more or less of a commune. Dom knew the coven had chosen this place specifically because of its location beside the church. Even vampires could take a joke.

Olivia was still struggling to keep up with Dom who’d left the café without much warning. It wasn’t too far of a walk to the commune, but being a dhampir certainly helped make any walk faster. He eventually stopped not far from the line of houses, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring up at the windows.

“Are you going to do anything or are we just going to stand here?” Olivia asked, her breathing heavier from their little jog.

“I’m not going to waltz in and ask, ‘Did you murder any humans, by chance?’ if that’s what you’re asking. Besides, they’re probably asleep.”
“Why would they live out here if they’re just going to sleep all day? I can’t imagine this place has much of a nightlife.”
“Yeah, we’ll they’re not doing a lot of socializing so I doubt it matters.”

Dom approached the houses slowly, though he knew there was no reason for it. If the vampires were awake, and if they were watching, they’d inevitably make them known. If they were not, or if they simply thought he and Olivia were just humans passing through.

“Do you…sense anything?” Olivia asked, watching him with her arms folded over her chest. “Are your spidey senses tingling?”
“Yeah, you’re hilarious,” Dom muttered, approaching the door of one of the houses. He wasn’t picking up the sense, but with so many vampires in one area that didn’t mean much, not to mention that the scent Dom was going off of was mixed with that of the victim. Dom put one hand to the doorknob, hardly surprised when he felt nothing, no hint of the sense. He continued to all the houses, touching the doorknob on each. Still, no sense. He shook his head, returning to where Olivia waited outside the church.

“Anything?”
“Nope.”
“So this was all for nothing? Great. How do you even know? You didn’t do anything,” Olivia muttered, turning on her heels and heading back into the town. Dom followed quickly, and though it seemed as if she was trying to stay ahead of him he wouldn’t allow it, keeping pace easily. Eventually she gave up, slowing down and resigning herself to ignoring Dom to the best of her abilities.

“It’s not that I didn’t do anything, it’s more like you can’t see anything,” Dom explained. Olivia cast him a dark look and he rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t meant to be an insult but sure, take it as one. I meant that you couldn’t see it because there’s nothing to see. Vampires have a way of tracking people, being natural predators. It’s a sense – I can’t really describe it, but if you have direct contact with another person you can pick up their ‘sense’ and follow it to an extent. It works best between vampires, but it works for humans as well.”

“If you can follow this ‘sense’ of yours then why the hell are we out here?” It was pretty obvious Olivia was more than a bit infuriated, but Dom saw that as her own fault. She’d understand all of this if she’d done a bit of research into vampires, something she obviously hadn’t done.

“Someone needs to brush up on her vampires,” Dom muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Olivia to hear. “I can’t track it because I haven’t had direct contact with this person. I got the sense second hand from a victim. Not only is it diluted but also it’s mixed with another person’s sense – that’s incredibly hard to follow. If I found the person who was behind it I would know. I can pick up the sense at a short distance, or through other objects or people this person has been in contact with, but I can’t follow it like I’d be able to if I’d met them in person.”

Olivia pursed her lips, but for once it looked as if she was less upset with Dom and more infuriated with situations she couldn’t control. “What do you suggest, then?” she said, though from the sharpness of her voice it was clear she was only asking his opinion as a last resort.

“I suggest we go back to the city during the night. If you want to find a vampire I know exactly where to go. But trust me, you’re not going to like it.”

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

“I would have gotten there quicker running,” Dom muttered softly as she clenched the wheel of her Kia, a clot of traffic blocking the Chelsea Bridge, hovering over the Thames. Olivia hadn’t taken the Friday Night Rush into consideration, which usually comprised of tired businessmen, wild teens, cougars, and a plethora of other people attempting to squeeze into Central London to hit up the hottest strip. Olivia had never associated with the nightlife scene, more content with curling over a book and ginger tea, or watching marathons reruns of Mr. Bean with Alexander.

Olivia couldn’t help but roll her eyes in response, although she did find herself involuntarily glancing down at her phone every few minutes. Alex’s Poetry Slam started in forty-five minutes and they had yet to make any ground other than traveling out for an hour to a town that had proved to be completely inconclusive. He’d absolutely kill her if she missed it, and she’d kill herself. Exaggeration intended.

After leaving Abbots Langley they had come to the mutual agreement of stopping by Chelsea, an affluent neighborhood bounded south of the Thames. It was of the Ademeni Coven’s domain, and through the sparse dialogue they had shared during the car ride, he had mentioned the clan being one of the oldest and also one of the most arrogant. They were made up of old aristocrats, business men and women, doctors, lawyers who fervently believed the sun beamed out of their ass and the world was nothing but their peasants. The Ademeni Coven was also one of the oldest, a plethora of their ancestral vampires hailing from the home region.

“Where in particular are we going?” Olivia finally decided to ask when they were across the bridge. He vaguely remembered him saying she wouldn’t enjoy the destination and the gnawing curiosity had been tearing at her sides incessantly since they left.

“Slurp and Slop,” he responded simply, causing the brunette to immediately scrunch her nose in disgust.
“What the hell is that?”
“A bar.”
“It sounds like one of those bad pornos in the back of an adult video store.”
“And you’d know all about that, why?” His eyebrows shot up, dark orbs gazing at her from the side for a moment before they were returning to the dashboard. Olivia instantly felt the heat overwhelm her cheeks and she twisted down a road, face tilted away from him.
Her lips were propped open for several seconds before she firmly responded with, “I don’t,” just loud enough for him to hear, although she could tell his thoughts were already elsewhere.

***

Slurp and Slop, contrary to its name, was an upscale bar with sleek, black marbled walls, a gushing fountain at the center, and slow, jazz beats filtering through the air. A large, circular table wound along the back side of the large space as it housed a plethora of people sipping at brightly colored drinks while women, dressed in short, form-fitting dresses conversated with their customers casually.

“And this is where the Ademini hangs out?” Olivia questioned, voice low enough for him to only hear.
“They enjoy their expensive liquor,” he quickly responded with a shrug before slipping through the crowd easefully and towards the bar.

A tall, slender man with ghoulish-looking ivory skin and hair silvery blonde was sat gracefully on a swirling deep blue stool. His lips were thin yet covered with a sheen of gloss, lashes long and well-kempt, curtaining eyes as vicious and as colorless as the pit of a raging hurricane. An expensive Armani shirt in a flamboyant red was tucked with a belt into the fabric of his dark, olive slacks, several rings adorning his fingers.

Olivia had definitely understood now, more than ever, why the Ademini was considered a voracious, pompous coven.

“Dominic?” The vampire questioned, an easy grin tugging at his skin in a way that made Olivia wince. He felt like the smooth, hard flesh would begin to crackle at each and every movement. “I would have never thought to run into you here. To what do I owe this pleasure?” His voice was friendly, yet a strong, bitter undertone, as fierce as battery acid, resonated on his tongue.

“Nicu,” Dominic responded casually, a smirk even spreading across his features. “I was in the area and decided to stop in.”

The vampire snickered lightly, patting the stool next to him. His brilliant gray eyes then suddenly connected with Olivia’s sending a cool wave down her spine; his gaze was analytical, as if he were trying to dissect her and place the pieces back together again. She felt uncomfortable after realizing his intentions, although her body remained perfectly still, holding the hard gaze. He then smiled once more before exclaiming, “And you’ve brought a friend, I see! State your name, darling.”

“Olivia Bates.”
The vampire looked amused, long nails swirling around the rim of his sugar-frosted glass. “No, your real name. Your given one.”
Olivia stood, appalled, at his perceptiveness. “What?”
“Olivia Bates, it’s a human name. As plain as they come. I know you’re not one of them, darling. You don’t smell of human blood, but something sweeter, something also highly unobtainable.”

Olivia suddenly envied Dominic, who was slouched against the bar casually as he watched the event unfold. She always became extraordinarily uneasy talking about herself to complete strangers, whether they belong to the mythical world or not.

Thankfully he continued. “Vampires would choke on your blood; it’s too pure. To us, it’s like sweet poison; the flavor is otherworldly, deliciously ripe, but just as lethal, nonetheless.”

"Ehren," she finally responded, although it was surprisingly low. Goosebumps broke the surface of her flesh as her orbs connected with her partner's helplessly, only yearning to change the subject.

The vampire opened his mouth briefly, only for a gruff voice to cut in.

“How has your clan been, by the way?” Dominic intervened, much to Olivia’s unadulterated relief.

She wanted to mouth a 'thank you', but her lips were welded shut.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rosabeth]

{name:Dom#|#picture:54}

"Better than yours, I'd wager," Nicu quipped with a broad, blindingly white smile. Seriously, Dom wondered how often the man had his teeth whitened. "We now have one of our own in the House of Lords. Can't tell you which one - that's a secret."

Dom only rolled his eyes at Nicu's games but Olivia looked like she was teetering somewhere between being impressed and horrified. Nicu smiled at her reaction and ran his finger around the rim of his glass. "I like her, though I'd like her better in my bed."

For a split second Dom was sure Olivia was going to slap Nicu right there in the middle of the bar, but she only scoffed, starting at him as if he was a dead rat the cat had just dragged in. He laughed again, a sound that put them all on edge, and waved away her concern. "I'm only joking, darling. I play for the other team, if you catch my drift. Well, that's not true, I'll play for either team if properly ... enticed." Nicu winked at the bartender who flashed a charmed smile, instantly pouring Nicu another of whatever he was drinking.

Though watching Olivia's reactions was amusing, if only because seeing her become enraged at someone who wasn't him satisfied some subconscious need, it wasn't exactly helpful. They had bigger issues at hand than Nicu's sexuality. "Have you heard about the missing people?"

"Ah, that. Yes, you can't really hide anything from my coven. We've known about it since the very first girl went missing, and it was pretty clear even then that it was a vampire behind it."
"How did you know?"
"Because I saw it happen."

Dom resisted the urge to show any surprise, and he could only hope Olivia had the good sense to keep a neutral expression, though he couldn't say he had much faith in that. Instead he only raised an eyebrow, taking the seat next to Nicu. It was their good fortune that Nicu was notoriously dramatic, doing his best to tell wild, exaggerated tales to anyone who would listen. Dom had always thought it made him a bit of a security threat to his coven, but so far he'd remained alive. Nicu was among the more liberal minded of his coven, socializing with non-Coven members and non-Vampires more readily than most. Dom knew had he met any other Ademeni here the conversation would be going much differently.

"Oh yes, I was there. It was near one of the theaters after some West End show. Leicester Square was packed, as always, but it's so easy to steal someone away from a crowd if you know what you're doing. I was just leaving a restraunt and I could smell the blood from the moment I'd stepped outside. I walked right across the square and saw them in a little alley way. It was messy. Blood was everywhere and I swear to God that girl's head was almost ripped right off!" Nicu stopped to laugh, his eyes wide and his hands held out for dramatic effect. Dom gave a light chuckle to placate the man, but inside he felt sick. He briefly thought back to the incident with Margaux but pushed the memory away. Now was not the time.

"Did you see who did it?" Dom prompted, seeing Olivia lean in a little closer out of the corner of his eye. He groaned internally, wishing she wasn't so damn obvious with her eagerness.
Nicu sighed, reaching back for his glass. "Unfortunately not. It was dark, they were turned away from me, and they looked pretty androgynous from afar. I just thought it was a botch job by a nou. I had no idea it was going to be this mess. As soon as whoever it was saw me they took off, taking the body with them. I didn't both chasing them down because, let's be honest, I didn't really care."
"Who do you think is behind it, just between friends?" asked Dom with the best smile he could muster. "Personally I'd put my money on the Erete."
"Of course you would, you people hate the Erete, not that I'm particular fans of them in the first place. I personally wouldn't put it past the Cursa. They're as strange as they come."

After Nicu downed his newly-ordered drink (vampires could consume a truly staggering amount of alochol) Dom ordered him another, just to be polite. Nicu thanked him with his signature grin.

"Are you sure you can't stay and catch up?" he asked as Dom stood up from the stool, readying to go. Dom shook his head, though on the inside he was already running for the exit. Nicu was the lesser of evils, as tame as the vampires came, but that didn't mean Dom would call him a friend under any circumstances.

Nicu sighed, starting to scout out the area for what Dom guessed would be his next unlucky victim. "Well, I suppose I'll let you go just this once, though next time I won't let you leave till we've done at least seven shots. I suppose I can't convince you to switch sides?"

Even though joining another coven was as treasonous as it came in the vampire community, a scandal so huge that only those of the utmost power and importance ever got away with it, Nicu asked the same question every time they met. And just like always, Dom shrugged and said, "You can always try."

Once all had been said and done Nicu extended his hand, the moment Dom had been waiting for. As soon as he took it, however, he was disappointed. He put all his energy into honing his sense but nothing registered, no matter how long they kept contact. As Dom hadn't picked up the scent lingering on Nicu he knew it was a long short, but it was a disappointment none the less. Of course, it was still a possibility that the Ademeni were behind the attacks, and Dom was hardly going to write them off, but if he couldn't not pick up any sense of the attacker on Nicu the probability of finding it on another Ademeni plummeted. Nicu was extraordinarily social, undoubtedly knowing every member of his coven, and the sense of another could linger on his contact for weeks afterwards.

With a wave and a nod Dom hightailed it out of the bar, Olivia right on his heels. The moment they were outside she turned on him, putting out her arm to keep him from going any further.

"Well, did you sense anything?"
"No, not even a hint."

Olivia swore, leaning back against the wall and pulling out her phone, checking the time. "Did you get anything from that, because pretty much all I picked up was that that guy is a grade-A creepy fucker."

"Well, I know that the murders probably aren't done by that Ademeni, though I wouldn't write them off just yet. We also know that whoever is doing it is most definitely a nou if they're botching a feed that badly. We also know that the Ademeni really need to keep closer tabs on Nicu because that idiot practically spilled his guts to a non-Coven member. Dumb ass."
"Wait," Olivia interjected, putting out a hand. "What the hell is a 'nou'? Mr. Flamboyant said it too but no one bothered to translate."
"It means a new vampire. It's a term from Abis," Dom explained. "You do know what Abis is, right?"
Olivia shot him an unamused look. "Yeah, jackass, I know what Abis is. It's your creepy little vampire world. Now shut up and just get back to the car."

They walked in silence, but as soon as they got into Olivia's KIA Dom had to ask the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since their introductions with Nicu.

"Earlier Nicu said your blood is too pure, whatever that means. Then you said your name is Ehren, whatever language that is. My question is this - what the hell are you?"

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

Olivia’s fingers seemed to subconsciously freeze on the wheel at Dom’s question, muscles slightly stiffening against the plush, leather seat. Her roots weren’t exactly a topic she regularly brought up, nor enjoyed speaking about. The fylgja were known for being lighthearted creatures that brought down good fortune to its assigned hosts and had a naturally implemented instinct to guard and protect, but beneath the bullshit glamour of their reputation resided a world comprised of twisted beings with backwards views on just about everything and a ridiculously devotion to the Consilium.

Concepts such as love and compassion were nothing but a fantasy where she grew up. Parents weren’t actually parents and you were as good as an orphan once you had gone through the standard training lasting up until about fourteen. Assignments were handed out at birth and the joy of your host was the only way one could sustain itself. They were glorified robots, with no true ideals, hopes, and/or dreams other than the sole duty to take care of a designated human.

Olivia hadn’t wanted any of that; she didn’t want to be robbed of her thoughts or forced to believe in things she knew nothing about. She had grown a unusual connection to her host, Alexander, and coupled with her already fervent desire to enter into the human world, she worked tirelessly on finding the portal. Upon entering it, she was practically thrown in the big city with no true language skills and an acute unawareness for the happenings around her. Eventually she had adapted, finding a niche she enjoyed in the town of London, never looking back on the world in which she was created.

“Fylgha,” she responded brusquely, sparing all the details. There was no fiber in her being that wanted to regurgitate such an undesirable portion of her life.
Thankfully, he didn’t press further on the matter, several, painful seconds of silence filling the miniscule car instead. Olivia thought it’d drive her to insanity, until his voice, deep and surprisingly playful, responded with, “Aren’t fylgha supposed to be nice?”
“And aren’t vampires supposed to be charming?” she quipped back with an eye roll.

“To people I’m interested in, yes,” he responded, causing Olivia’s stomach to somersault in a mixture of anger and something else.
“Then why are so curious about my life story all of a sudden?” she responded with an attempt at ferociousness although it was completely watered down to the point of inconspicuousness. God fucking damn it.
“I should know at least something about the person I’m working with, considering you know a great deal about me.”
“That was never included,” Olivia muttered, her ego gradually shriveling. She didn’t necessarily believe she was Adriana Lima, or had a plethora of exciting stories to tell, but no one had actually spoken up about her lack of being a charismatic bombshell. Whatever. She didn’t care. He was an idiot.

Dominic seemed to continue on though, hardly internalizing her attempt at trying to kill the conversation. “Is your host a jackass? Because that would suck.”
Olivia’s thoughts instantly bubbled back to Alex, a shock of realization shooting through her body. Christ! His—his thing! The poetry slam! Taking her eyes off of the road in a hurried second, she glanced at the watch to see 7:10 PM glaring back at her in ugly neon letters. She was late – ten minutes late – and he was expecting her to root for him in the audience. She couldn’t miss it; she absolutely couldn’t.

“We have to take a detour,” Olivia declared automatically, twisting her left blinker and unexpectedly twisting down another road.
Dom’s eyebrows shot up in her peripheral vision. “Why?”
“Do you like bad poetry?” she questioned in mild embarrassment, conscious of the fact this was entirely unprofessional.
Fortunately, Dominic didn’t seem to mind, only shrugging. “I’ve seen worse.”

___

“An ode to food, the poem is called,” the dark-haired man in wiry glasses announced, before taking a dramatic pause:

“Food, food, how I love you.
How I love you especially when you’re stewed.
Sticky buns are awesome
I remember when I found one right by a possum
Now isn’t that awesome?

Thai food gets me in the mood
But ew to that healthy food
I’m a greasy food dude
Burgers are cool

And cheese is amazing
And I can’t find anything that rhymes with amazing
But who doesn’t like cheese?
Because if you don’t, man, you’re hard to please

Food, food, how I love you
And I can’t wait to have that chicken stew
Because it’ll be delicious
Food

Peace out, yo.”

Olivia felt her eye twitch, the entire club showered in complete and utter silence, unsure of how to react. Slowly, she brought her hands together before filling the darkened space in a flood of obnoxious claps before screaming, “You go, Alex! That was awesome!”

Dom was dumbfounded by her side, blinking several times before she knocked him in the side with her hip, pressing her hands together a little firmer so he’d catch the hint. He then slowly brought his palms together in a clap before the rest of the audience steadily followed suit, Alexander bowing several times.

“Thank you all! You’re amazing!” Then, grinning once more, he sashayed off the stage like Shakespeare and made his way over to the pair.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rosabeth]

{name:Dom#|#picture:54}

"Oh. My. God." Dom stared at the quickly approaching poet - if he could really be called that - with his mouth held open. "This is him, isn't it? Your host? Jesus Christ, you hit the jackpot, didn't you? That is bleak."

Olivia's response came in the form of a swift elbow to the side, and Dom instantly shut up, rubbing at the newly-bruised spot. He mentally added bad-poet-man to the list of things to avoid in conversation, which of course meant he'd only bring it up as often as possible. The lanky dark haired man reached them then, grinning like an idiot at Olivia, his arms open wide.

"Didn't I tell you it would be good? I was rather pleased with that one myself. I knew it would be a hit," he spewed, taking the seat to Olivia's right. She smiled back with the most conflicted expression Dom had ever seen, simultaneously looking as if she wished to cry and cheer. Dom had a fair understanding of most of the mythic species that existed, but his knowledge of the fylgja was limited. He knew they drew their own happiness and, to an extent, their 'life' from their human pairing, but Dom wasn't sure to what extent that was true. They must get one hell of a boost from the happiness of their human, because Dom had no idea how else someone could even manage a fake smile at the thought of the absolute slaughtering of the English language they'd just witnessed.

Before Dom could respond Olivia jumped in, giving the gangly man a tight hug and glaring at Dom through the corner of her eye. The man smiled as she pulled back, grinning at Olivia and slowly moving his gaze to Dom, arching his eyebrows and turning back to Olivia with a devilish look. "So I finally get to meet your 'reading material'?"

"No. No, he's not -" Olivia stumbled over her words, looking simultaneously flustered and angry. The man wouldn't hear her denials.
"Stay here - I'll get us drinks."
"Alex, he's not -" Olivia yelled after the retreating figure, but he would not hear of it, lifting his hand and batting away her words.
"Oh, shit."
"Can someone please tell me what's going on?"
Olivia glared at Dom, taking a seat in a nearby seat with her arms folded over her chest. "He doesn't exactly know about my night job, so he's come to the stunning conclusion that I'm out having sex with some unknown every night. Now he thinks that's you."

Dom only blinked in response, his face contorted into an expression of disbelief. He had not signed up for this. He glanced at the man across the room who was chatting with the bartender as drinks were filled. He desperately wished to get out. He'd rather deal with a coven of vampires than this hellhole. But as he looked back at Olivia, seeing the frustration clear on her face, he began to perk up. Perhaps there was a positive to all of this.

"I didn't know what you liked so I just got you the same as us," said the man as he returned, pushing what was either a gin and tonic or the largest glass of vodka Dom had ever seen across the table. Dom lifted the glass, taking as long a drink as he could manage. He was going to need some serious alcohol to get through the night.

"This is Dominic, Alex. He's a coworker." Her eyes flashed quickly to Dom, begging him to play along, but Dom realized he had no idea where else she worked. That story was going to crumble very quickly. "Dominic, this is best friend Alex."

"Nice to meet you," Dom said cordially, extending a hand. Alex shook it, making what seemed to Dom to be a real effort of having a firm shake. Dom suppressed a laugh, wondering if this was supposed to be threatening or a show of dominance. Either way, the skinny poet was failing miserably.

"I can't believe I finally get to meet the mysterious man," Alex grinned. "I knew you weren't reading, you liar."

"I'd hardly call it reading," Dom grinned back, slipping his free hand around Olivia's waist. The split second rage that flittered across her face was worth whatever payback would inevitably come.

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

Olivia, with every fiber of her being, prevented herself from attempting to inflict as much pain on Dom as possible. Bringing him here was a mistake; it only meant she wouldn’t be able to do whatever she damn well pleased if he began acting like an asshole. She was partially irritated with Alex though – could he have gotten it anymore wrong? The thought of being physical with Dom in any way that didn’t involve her kicking his ass was nightmarish. It’d be like a volcano and a hurricane mixing; completely destructive.

But if Dom wanted to play dirty, Olivia could, too.

“You got me!” she exclaimed, a tiny grin tugging at her lips as she leaned into Dom and trailed her fingers slowly down his firm chest, pausing for a moment to toy with the button on his henley. “Although it didn’t last long. Poor guy just couldn’t perform. You did say you were finding medication for that, right?”

Olivia had tried to fight back the grin that wanted to bubble past her lips, teeth grinding down on her plush lower lip. She wasn’t exactly a connoisseur of all things sexual, and didn’t have an extensive amount of knowledge on the subject, but she had figured out the embarrassing things that could happen in the bedroom, a non-performing male included.

Alex looked strongly amused, lips popping open. “Well, y’know man, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. It happens to everyone sometimes—”
“Some more than others,” Olivia butted in before bringing the cool, alcoholic drink to her lips. She wasn’t typically a drinker and would have more preferred a regular soda, but strangely enough, the tangy taste of gin and tonic offered soothing qualities.

“Only because you’re not exactly making my engine purr anymore,” he quipped back, swirling his drink with a shrug. Alex had officially been thrown in between the shitstorm that was Dom and Olivia’s consistent fighting. The asshole.
“Because you’re rediscovering your sexuality? I sort of figured.”
“So you think men that aren’t attracted to you are gay. That’s cute.”
“Seemed pretty attracted to me to try and cop a feel on that waist-hug, which wasn’t very discreet, by the way.”

“O-Okay, guys! Christ!” Alex intervened, raising his hands to silence them. “How the hell are you two screwing around? It seems like you hate each other!”
Olivia and Dom could have nearly screamed ‘We do!’ in unison, but hadn’t. It was the first time that night Alex was actually being perceptive.
“We fight like we want to kill each other most of the time, but have angry sex to make up for it,” Dom quickly responded before knocking back his drink.

Olivia felt the blush evade her cheeks and instantly dug her nails into the lap of his pants. How had everything turned on her so quickly?

“Anyways,” she breathed, “we should probably get going.”
“But the night’s still young!” Alex whimpered. “And we barely hang out, outside of the apartment!”
“Alex—”
“I’ll need to interrogate him,” he declared resolutely, “It’s a part of Section C-20101 of the friendship contract. I’d be breaking the law if I didn’t.”
“You completely made that up.”
“C’mon, Livy! Let’s just get some ice cream or something.”

Olivia and Dom simultaneously shared a look before she was groaning in response.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rosabeth]

{name:Dom#|#picture:54}

Instead of tracking down the Cursa or the Erete as would have been a good use of his time, Dom somehow found himself walking down the streets of London sandwiched between Olivia and her little sidekick. From the moment they set out, Alex began grilling Dom on a number of ridiculous questions that only grew in irrelevance as he went.

"How many women have you been with?"
"Have you recently been tested for STD's?"
"Do you have any children out of wedlock and do you pay any child support?"
"Can I see your criminal record?"

After the seventh time stumbling back over his earlier words and insisting that there was absolutely nothing going on between him and Olivia, Dom simply gave up. Let the man think what he wanted; it was pretty clear there was no changing his mind once it was set. Dom answered some of Alex's questions with made up answers, making his personal life seem a lot more exciting than it really was. He saw Olivia give him several looks of disbelief out of the corner of his eye, even hearing her snort when he elaborated on his claim that he'd once been falsely arrested for dealing crystal meth.

"I'd met this girl at a club who was kind of off kilter, paranoid and stuff, but that didn't really bother me. She kept talking about how she had some really good stuff back at her place, and I thought she'd just been talking about weed or something so I went along with it. When we got to her apartment - well, it was less of an apartment and more of a basement - it was a true meth lab, I swear to god. It was some crazy shit. Anyway, someone must have ratted her out to the police because the next thing we know the police were breaking down her door, had us both in handcuffs, and were raiding her lab. It became pretty apparent I wasn't actually involved, but first I was dragged into the station for some serious questioning."

"Seriously?" Alex gaped, completely enraptured in Dom's story. Dom kept a serious expression, but Alex's excitement made his lips twitch into a hint of a smile. "That would make a great book. Well, with a few adjustments, that is. You'd need a better name - no offense - and maybe some new themes. You could be a travelling monk trying to bring inner peace to the inner city people. Maybe this woman sells her meth to women who pose as accountants by day but who are really vampire burlesque dancers by night. Do you think a vampire could do meth?"

This time Dom couldn't help but laugh, trying to choke the sound the best he could. "Oh, definitely." Olivia gave him a curious look and he wondered if she was pondering if his words came from personal experience.

The next round of questioning started as soon as Alex managed to stop plotting his future bestseller for a few minutes. Unlike the uncomfortable personal quetsions, the new set was surprisngly... normal.

"Who's your favorite band?"
"The Strokes."
"Favorite author?"
"Christopher Moore for modern authors but Alexandre Dumas for classics."
"Favorite video game?"
"I'm a sucker for the classics - you haven't lived until you've plaid Super Metroid."

For a minute Dom couldn't read Alex's slack-jawed look of shock, but once the man composed himself enough to put on a legitimate expression Dom realized he might have just won an admirer.

"This guy has taste!" Alex exclaimed, turning to Olivia who walked with her arms crossed over her chest, looking rather unamused. "I take back anything I might have said earlier - good pick."

"I didn't pick him because we're not involved," Olivia groaned, but Alex was no longer listening. He'd already started rattling off another never-ending list of question, half of which Dom missed as Alex spoke at a million words a minute. Alex was a strange guy, an odd mix of eccentric hermit and friendly socialite that came in a disheveled, bean-pole like package, topped off with a pair of glasses that could have been stolen from a professor. Yet, despite all these oddities, Dom found him strangely entertaining. Then again, that might have just been because his interest in Dom undeniably bothered Olivia.

They were nearly to the ice cream shop when Dom's head shot up, turning around at the sudden unmistakable sense of another vampire in the area. He scanned the area silently, inspecting each passerby with a critical eye to determine if they were the source of the feeling. A man across the street suddenly burst into laughter, turning Dom's attention, and he knew in an instant exactly who he was looking at. If his imposing stature was not an immediate tip off, the tattoo on the back of his neck was.

"Olivia, we're going to miss our show!" Dom interjected, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to a stop. She instantly pulled her arm out of his grasp, giving him a look of confusion.
"What show?"
"The show we got tickets for last week," Dom said slowly, giving a small jerk of his head towards the other side of the street between every few words. Luckily Olivia was not as slow as her friend, and with a quick glance at the tall, muscular vampire across the street she seemed to get the idea. She mouthed 'vampire?' as soon as Alex wasn't looking, to which Dom gave a quick nod.

"Sorry, Alex, but we really have to go," Olivia said, giving her friend a quick hug. Alex looked slightly rejected, but only put up an argument for a moment.

"Fine, fine, go to your 'show'," said Alex, shooing them away. Olivia thanked her friend several times as Dom tried to tug her away hurriedly. The man across the street was already gone, disappearing down some unknown street, and Dom didn't know how much longer he'd be able to track him. They ran across the street, dodging a few cars that beeped angrily at them for not using a crosswalk. They broke into a quick walk on the other side of the street, and just before they turned down a side street, Dom sensing that being where the man had gone, Alex yelled one last parting to them.

"Use protection!"

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

Thankfully, the streets of Chelsea weren’t congested as the two of them briskly shot around the corner before breaking out into a run when they were out of Alex’s vision. Naturally, Dom was a lot faster than her, but she could tell he was trying to slow his pace just so she could keep up.

“Did you get a sense?” She shouted out from behind him, her feet noiselessly flying along the asphalt. The definite positive of her species was their inability to be easily noticed. It was particularly useful for chasing down a vampire in Earls Court at five past eight.
“No,” he shot back, “because I thought it’d be a lovely idea to chase someone for absolutely no reason.”
Olivia had come to the conclusion that sarcasm wasn’t a delightful shade on him, only scowling in response.

The vampire was about a block ahead, his laughs soft against the wind before he was sharply turning into an alley way sandwiched between ‘Earl’s Sandwiches and Tea’ and ‘1 2 3 Music’.

“Over here,” Dom murmured before he was making a quick move across the street and into the dark, brick corridor in which the vampire had ran. By the time they arrived, a tall, well-built man with dark brunette hair sweeping across his shoulders, folded his arms across his chest, a cat-like grin tugging at the corners of his lips. Olivia mildly wondered if all vampires were annoyingly playful.

“Hello Neville,” Dom greeted, stopping at the entrance of the alley. Olivia was soon by his side.
“And hello to you, Dominic,” he responded, his irises a shockingly stark gray. If she stared too long, it felt like he hardly had color there at all. “Is there any reason as to why you’ve decided to play a game of cat and mouse?”

Dom only smiled slightly. “I’m here to deliver a message, actually, and I didn’t want to lose you before I was able to.”
The interests of the other vampire instantly piqued as he neared them, but only slightly. He didn’t seem to pay mind to Olivia like the other vampire had, only offering her a slight smirk before returning his gaze on Dominic. “Well, elaborate.”

“The Sabia Coven has requested a meeting.”
“And why would they do that? A vampire of the Balaur Coven has done nothing to affect the Sabia to the last of my knowledge.”
“No,” Dom quickly reassured. “They haven’t. The Sabia wants to discuss what happened with the bodies, and the one that showed up in the Thames.”
His light gray eyes seemed to suddenly darken considerably. “And have you seen the body?”
“Yes,” Olivia interjected softly. “Natalie Carmichael. Relatively young; blonde-haired.”

He paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating his next response. “Ah, yes. Well I remember one of my men having spotted that murder, but they didn’t see much. Strange thing is, they reported there was no struggle. She seemed to have willingly followed the other vampire into the alley. It was late – around one AM, the earliest.”

No struggle? Olivia couldn’t help but allow her eyebrows to briefly furrow, the temperatures outside only growing chillier.

“There was no true sound during the murder. Matter of fact, if we didn’t smell the pungent scent of human blood spilled over concrete, we wouldn’t have assumed she was in harm’s way.”

“Thank you,” Dom finally responded, already turning away from the other vampire. “I’ll let the Sabia know.”

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rosabeth]

{name:Dom#|#picture:54}

As soon as Dom and Olivia were out of the alley and back in the lit street, Dom was pulled to a stop.

"How the hell can you get killed by a vampire without a struggle? It certainly seems like if someone tried to drain you of blood you might put up a fight."

Dom had to admit that the situation was a bit more complex than he'd been expecting, and certainly Neville - or Constantin, if he was to call him by his real name - felt the same. But Olivia didn't understand the complexity of vampires, of just how one might manage to make so many kills without striking up any attention. It was the body in the water, the rookie mistake, that made this whole situation not add up. How could someone as obviously idiotic as to dump a body in the Thames also be crafty enough to make sure there was no sign of a struggle with his victims?

"I don't think we're dealing with just one vampire."
"What?"
"There's more than one vampire behind these attacks."
Olivia frowned, pursing her lips. "Yeah, I got that. I meant more of 'how do you know'?"
"Making a silent kill isn't exactly brain science, but it's also not something a new vampire would know how to do. It both requires you to build a certain level of trust with your victim, enough that if you left a club with them they wouldn't think they were being kidnapped, and the ability to make a clean kill. The person who put the body in the Thames obviously isn't even smart enough to know that that's not how you dispose of a body unless you want to alert the authorities, so they've obviously too stupid to know how to make a clean kill."

For once Olivia didn't argue with Dom's assessment, and he wondered if that was because she didn't know much about vampires in the first place. She certainly hadn't seemed particularly knowledgable. Dom scoffed - how like the Consilium, setting him up with a partner who wasn't even well versed in vampire culture.

They walked in silence for a bit, heading back to her car parked near the pub where Dom had learned the true meaning of bad poetry. Olivia didn't looked pleased, her arms crossed over her chest and a hardened look to her face, her eyes narrowed, but Dom couldn't quite understand why she was so upset. He certainly wasn't thrilled with their dead end after dead end, but he hadn't been expecting anything ess. After all, they'd given him next to nothing to work off of. Frankly, Dom didn't really give a shit how long it took, so long as he stayed anonymous and was paid double for his efforts.

Eventually Olivia broke down the silence, turning to Dom with a frustrated sigh. "I still don't understand how you can attack someone silently, even if you're on good terms with them. Having someone's teeth in your neck isn't exactly painless."

"Actually, it kind of is."
For once, Dom had caught Olivia by surprise. She stared blankly at him, somehow not comprehending Dom's words. "How can it be painless?"
"A vampire bite is kind of like a drug for humans. It hurts at first, but after a while the pain kind of numbs and leaves you in an almost delirious state, confused and painless. It's not addicting like a drug, but it certain can have euphoric effects, you just won't remember them afterwards. It's not the same for other vampires, but most vampires don't feed off each other. They can, it's just usually used as a 'last resort' because it's not particularly appetizing."

It was clear that this was new information for Olivia, and she seemed to mull it over as they continued their walk. When they got back to the car Olivia begrudgingly asked if Dom needed a ride home, but he shook his head, insisting on taking the tube. It wasn't that he didn't trust her - well, he didn't, but that wasn't the point - it was just that he didn't like people, particularly the Consilium, knowing where he lived. It wasn't as if he couldn't be found fairly easily if you knew how to look, for he certainly wasn't in any public directories, but he didn't want to make it any easier than it needed to be.

Just before Dom headed off Olivia called out, Dom turning reluctantly, just happy she'd used his last name instead of "dhampir," a name that would have made him leave without word.
"Yeah?"
Olivia stared at him for a moment, apparently usure how to go about her question. "When you talked about a vampire bite you talked as if you knew from personal experience."
It wasn't a question, per say, but Dom knew what she was asking. "I do."

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

“How’d everything go tonight?” Gary asked, fixing them both two steaming cups of coffee. Fidelis was perched comfortably on her shoulder as she fed him his last anchovy, the bird soon soaring off of her shoulder in content. Olivia noticed the darkening gray circles marring his once clean face, dark orbs plagued with strain. She almost wanted to ask him what had been troubling him, considering cases like these weren’t new to the precinct, but she instantly thought better of it.

“More than one vampire was behind the killings.”
“And how did you come up with this?”

Olivia paused to swallow the dark liquid, feeling it sting the back of his throat. “Well, Dom did. We caught the head vampire of the Balaur Coven and he claimed to have reported his men had seen Natalie Carmichael follow a dark figure into a nearby alley way. There were no screams, no apparent struggle, nothing. It doesn’t make sense for one person to have been behind it anymore when they were able to utilize sophisticated vampire tactics one second, and then dump the body in the Thames the next. I’m theorizing that somehow the body ended up in the hands of a new vampire; perhaps the one that had actually killed her needed a way to deflect attention from himself…throw a wrench into things.”

Gary’s knuckles were folded underneath his chin, several seconds transpiring before he responded. Olivia had expected at least a shred of relief, but instead his expression remained unmoving. She tried not to allow the confusion to read easily across her features. “You two have to close this case before the Consilium loses their patience, Ehren. I was on the phone with a representative for hours today trying to assuage them in the fact we had everything under control. They’re livid, and there has been rumors of a new doctrine being discussed stating that all creatures must return to their homeland, save for a few special cases.”

Olivia felt her body go rigid, the mug midair. “And does that special case involve us?” She couldn’t stomach returning to Himmel, not to a land broken by destruction and brainwashing. She would have died before going, although she knew this was morally impossible. Any flygha was free to end their lives through an easily achievable warlock’s mix at any time, but they would have to live with the fact that their human host would go with them. It would happen in a perfectly justifiable instance – being hit by a car, getting stabbed, drowning – and then he’d be forced to eternal damnation with her.

Gary’s face darkened before he was shaking his head. “With magic and creatures a rare instance in the human world, there will be no need for us to protect it.”
“And they wouldn’t need us to guard the home region?”
“It’s virtually crimeless. And no one dares to scorn a Consilium member.”

Olivia felt like she could have been on the verge of tears had it not been for her well-exercised internal control. Vulnerability was for the weak, and weak was something she was not. They’d fix everything before it got out of hand; she was positive of it.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rosabeth]

{name:Dom#|#picture:54}

Dom was sprawled out on his bed, lost in blissful sleep, when the shrill ringing of his phone woke him from his dreams. "Fucking hell," he grumbled, reaching blindly for the phone on his bedside table. Once he'd made it back to the flat that evening he'd recieved a bombardment of drunk texts from Andrew urging him to come out to the pub with him. He could tell they were drunk texts from the fact that there were more random combinations of letters than words, and Dom had almost considered giving up the decoding effort all together.

"I already told you I'm not going out," Dom grumbled into the phone the moment he answered the call. Just as he was ready to end the call, the voice ont he other end made him pause.

"Dom? What the hell?"
"Olivia?" He asked, rolling over and sitting up. He took a glance at his phone, realizing the number was unfamiliar. "How did you even get my number?"
"Gary gave it to me," she said, as if it was the most obvious solution in the world. "Listen, we have a problem."
"Yeah, I think that problem is known as calling me at ... whatever time it is," Dom grumbled, blinking at his clock which, much to his displeasure, read 3 am. "Just because I'm half-vampire does mean I run on a vampiric schedule."
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that," Olivia hissed. It was clear she wasn't sorry at all. "We have bigger problems than your sleep schedule. We need to solve this case. Now."

At this point Dom was beginning to regret taking on the case. He rubbed at this eyes and pushed himself out of bed, realizing this wouldn't be the world's shortest conversation. He was halfway to the kitchen and the coffeepot when he spoke. "Alright, what's going on?"

"The Consilium is considering a doctrine that would force everyone back to their homelands. We'd all be kicked out of earth."

Dom stopped, his hand on the pot, letting out a sigh and turning back towards his room. This call was quickly become a waste of time. "They're bluffing."
"How do you know that?" Olivia snapped.
"You can't just kick everyone off Earth. There's a hell of a lot of us here, and tracking every single person down would be one hell of a pain. Besides, I think this is your problem, not mine."
"What are you talking about? You're a vampire."
"Dhampir," Dom corrected forcefully. "I am not a vampire. And what you seem to be forgetting about dhampirs is that we're half human. We don't have a homeland. Dhampirs didn't even exist until vampires came to Earth. This is my homeland. They can't kick me out and they know it."

This seemed to have ruined Olivia's argument, for she did not speak for a minute. Dom crawled back into bed, hoping this mess would end quickly so he could get back to sleep. He had no time for Olivia's complaints and worries. "Well, you're just going to have to think about someone besides yourself for once, because I sure as hell am not going back to my home," Olivia said finally, her voice strained. Dom paused, nearly asking her what was so bad about her home before restraining himself. He was not going to make this conversation any longer than it needed to be.

"Listen, my coven is having a meeting with the Erete next Wednesday. That's in less than a week. You're just going to have to tell the Consilium to fuck off for a bit, alright? I can't do any snooping into my own coven because they know how much I hate them and wouldn't believe my excuses, not to mention that they already watch me after last time, and this event is going to be the perfect excuse to look into both covens at once. Ok?"

Olivia was definitely not ok. He could hear her heavy breathing through the line, and he was sure that if he was in the vicinity he might risk getting slapped. But despite whatever she might wish to be true, Dom was telling the truth. The effectiveness of a ban from Earth was essentially zero, and it wasn't as if the Consilium wasn't known for using the occasional fear tactic to get its point across. It was also true that Dom had no homeland and, if the vampires were gone, it would only benefit him. But most importantly, it was completely true that there was no use in doing much more work until Wednesday rolled around. They were already grasping at straws in their investigations, having so little to go off of, and the only way Dom saw fit to continue was to see the coven leaders themselves.

"Listen, you don't have to like this but that's the way it is. So please, either tell your little boss to come up with a better way for me to find these people - like, I don't know, getting me some damn concrete evidence - if you're just going to have to deal with the way I run this case."

Dom didn't even feel bad when he hung up on Olivia, putting the phone on silent before going back to sleep.

[Ange Keating]

{name:Olivia#|#picture:53}

Olivia had practically seethed at her cell phone before slamming it shut. Perhaps Dominic did not fully understand the weight of their situation, even though it wasn’t really his situation because he was a stupid dhampir and had no true world. What a selfish, fucking, prick! She felt the onslaught of angry-terrified tears before violently wiping away at her cheeks and stomping down the street. In a flurry of anger, she realized she had missed her shift at the bookstore, but made a mental to beg for vacation time later on that day. But for now, while the sun was still down, she would continue to find information, anything that would miraculously point her in the right direction. Olivia was a fighter, and wouldn’t go down with at least a struggle.

The roads were freezing but she hardly felt the chill; only tugging her jacket closer to her because it was the human-like thing to do. Occasionally there would be a straggler, but the area was noticeably baron. In the few minutes that she had been walking, Olivia had come to the conclusion that visiting the crime scene was the most logical next step. Even though there was a good chance she’d see nothing, it was a lot better than resigning to the apartment. She had quickly answered Alex’s worried texts with: ‘With Dom. Be back in the morning.’ The only significance the jackass had offered her at the moment was a scapegoat, and she reveled in the fact there was no way Alex could have tracked his number down to ask.

After finally making it to her car, she pocketed her phone and headed towards the Thames.

***

As expected, there was nothing extraordinarily different about the alley way in which Natalie Carmichael had been murdered. Besides the huge rats that would scuttle by with sharpened teeth and a few overturned trash cans, not a shred of excitement radiated from the narrow space. It was only when she rotated did her eyes connect with a darkened shadow, breath catching in her throat. The moment she blinked it had disappeared, leaving nothing but a brush of heavy wind over her face.

“Who the hell is there?” Olivia questioned, her voice taut and irritated. Anyone else would have been alarmed, reasonably so, but she only felt unbelievably angry. The last mugger that had tried to attack her at night had ended up with seven broken bones and a concussion and there was a not a doubt in her mind that this time, the treatment would be considerably more severe.

She only let out a grunt when several more seconds transpired and not another sound filled the alley way. Instantly writing it off as either a fiction of her imagination or the person deciding to run off, she continued her fruitless search.

“What are you looking for, darling?” A voice, dark and deadly, infiltrated her ear canals. She felt her back stiffen, boots crunching against glass as she twisted around again to the source of the noise, only to see a tall, slender male with hair as dark as midnight and eyes even blacker. Olivia instantly received the impression that this man was no human; he was much too acute and ethereal to ever be considered mundane.

Still, Olivia couldn’t be bothered with fright. Instead, she scowled, “None of your business.”
This seemed to provoke a laugh out of him, even though it came out as a forced snicker. “The feisty one, I see. Fylgja?”
Her expression remained hard, not a word escaping from her lips. She didn’t have to tell him anything.
“It’s something with your blood. It’s so sweet and robust – delightfully pungent. I know I wouldn’t be able to drink from it though, for it is poison, but oh is it tempting.”
“If you try to stab me in the neck it’ll be the last movement you make, I assure you,” she hissed.

Before she could so much as react, the man was standing right behind her, his lips dragging across her cheek slowly. “You’re very confident.” Olivia literally cringed at the feeling of his fingers tucking a tendril of hair behind her ear. “But I’m afraid it’d be the last movement you made. Fortunately for you, my patience is radically extended for beautiful women.”

Olivia instantly thumbed the knife inside the breast pocket of her jacket before fiercely stabbing him in the thigh with it. The vampire shouted out in pain, giving her enough time to tear away from him and dart as fast as she could out of the alley way. There was not a doubt in her mind that he could outrun her, considering Dominic had done so easily, even with half the powers a full blood possessed. But something in her wanted to try – the tenacity she had possessed her entire life.

But she hadn’t expected to be very successful, let alone get to her car and gun the engine. Matter of fact, she had found it so hard to believe she even glanced backwards at the alley as she sped down the road, only to see that it was empty.

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