[death] waits for no [one], open to anyone

[Arcadia Fuentes]

There is something sensual about nightclubs, Arcadia thought as she slipped gracefully into Sangre, weaving her body through a crowd of people... well not people exactly. The pungent scent of vampires (you know that kind of sweet one?) wafted through the room like a cloud of nice smelling perfume. There must have been at least a hundred vampires in there, their odor making her nose wrinkle slightly, scrunching up in a cute way that made her look sweet and innocent. But sweet and innocent were the last words that would describe her. The very last.

Sauntering slowly to the bar, making sure the swing of her hips gained the amount of attention they deserved, she leaned onto the counter, folding her arms under her slanted body. Though it wasn't exactly her intention, this move made Arcadia practically pour out of the jewel-green cocktail dress that she'd chosen as her attire for that particular night out on the town. Though possibly a bit ostentatious, it helped her attract not only her craved attention from vampires, but from her meals as well. The ultra-short dress was like a worm on a hook, bobbing and weaving around in front of the faces around her in an attempt to bring some unsuspecting fish over to bite...so she could bite back.

Beckoning the bartender to come over to the end of the counter on which she rested, Arcadia made her drink request.

”A vodka on the rocks, please,” she said, making the assumption that the vampire who made her order would be able to hear it despite the booming music emanating from the massive speakers hanging from each corner of the room.

As the bartender walked away, she turned her body around to face the rest of the club and its dance floor on the open, lower level. There was a mixture of both vampires and humans swaying and grinding up against each other to the beat of the current thumping song. It was like they were one being. One rippling being on a dance floor. To Arcadia, it was beautiful and she thought it was quite convenient to have a good selection of human prey to choose from amongst the avid dancers.

”Here,”the bartender said calmly, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.

Arcadia turned ever so slightly to grasp the glass, not even looking at him. She was still trying to observe the crowd and get her bearings in the packed club. She hadn’t come to Sangre with anyone. That was true. But she didn’t intend of leaving alone.

This should be an interesting night,” she mused, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her hair as a wry smile crept across her pretty, little face.

[Luella Guillory]

Nighttime cities were incredibly fascinating to Luella. The infinite opportunities rarely realized thrilled the old vampire. There had to be a way for her to keep her sane and she was sure she had found it. See Lula didn’t cry after the mortality, after her human self. That was most likely caused by the fact that she had never been human. Born a vampire, raised a vampire too. That was one thing that could annoy her about Charlotte; the woman seemed to linger on the past sometimes. Who in their sane mind would hang on to the past when there was so much more promise in the present and future?

Gods how she loved multitasking; the thought passed her mind just as a neck of a fledgling snapped in two and Lula set the body on fire. That’s what you get when you are stupid and try to kill someone two hundred years your senior. You’d think they have learned, but every now and then there is a foolish youngling that thinks he rules the world because he’s a vampire. Well Luella had one thing to say to all of those. Burn. Well that was the second thing really and only evoked first because of the little pyre in front of her. The first thing was to use the brain you were given. How in hell could a vampire less than a year after turning think about tackling her? She didn’t even have to be full of herself to see the futility and more importantly stupidity of the fledgling’s actions.

She dusted her hands and stepped away from the little fire. Lula turned on her heel and walked towards one of the two vampires that accompanied her here – someone had to clean up the mess. She outstretched her hand and a pair of keys fell into the upturned palm. She nodded once and moved on towards the car. “Clean up the mess,” she instructed them as she was opening the door to the Porsche Convertible parked nearby. Seconds later only the engine was heard as it was peaceful all around. As she drove through the streets of Aldenville, Lula passed many familiar spots, but didn’t bother herself with slowing down once, until she stopped the car in front of the hotel and walked upstairs briskly. She’s had every intention of going to Le Sangre few nights ago only to change her plans for a seemingly more intriguing prospect, but tonight she was definitely showing her face in that bar.

She allowed herself a short cold shower and then with only the towel wrapped around her torso walked back into her spacious room and opening the closet, searched for the dress she felt like wearing tonight. Her eyes stopped moving at the deep purple dress; about mid-thigh in length, with the corset-like front, holding it together as the dress had an incredibly low cut on the back. Lulu might’ve been 221 years old, but you would have never guessed that. For one she obviously didn’t look her age and secondly, she has managed to go with the time pretty well instead of ending up stuck in the period of her youth as it had happened to numerous vampires. She took care putting on details such as jewelry and make up, finishing off the look. She had a knack for appearing graceful in most attires; even the ones that would make some women look trashy.

She wasn’t taking anyone with her, confident there’d be few of her companions there already. Well as they say, the best thing always arrives last. Lulu started the engine again and sped away from the hotel and towards the club. After arriving it once again proved that being her age and position did have few rather insignificant perks. But as insignificant as they may be, they definitely cut on the need to bribe or threaten; all she needed to do was show up and they knew that this woman didn’t wait in line. Lu looked around herself and saw a handsome man in the crowd; he was with his friends, but those would be soon forgotten. She tilted her head his way and the bouncer at the door went to talk to him. Lula only spared him a smile and soon she was walking inside with the man a step behind her. If only he knew. She walked inside confidently, shedding her coat at the front door and moving inside, making sure her dinner followed her.

Lu spotted a pair of tables – one occupied by her acquaintances and one free right next to them. She sat down behind the empty one and flagged a waitress, ordering herself a drink and letting the man order for himself. While that was happening, Lu let her eyes wander around the bar, scanning the crowd for familiar or interesting faces, rarely both things happened to be one faced. She spotted someone intriguing alright; a young woman all by herself at the bar. She wasn’t human, no. That one was a vampire, as unalive as they come. The bartender was about to tap her shoulder for the second time to ask for money when Lu caught his eye and shook her head. He knew what that meant; Luella would be paying for that one. She observed the vampire as she observed everyone else; she knew her. Knew her name at least. Arcadia she called herself if Lu remembered correctly and that was likely as her brain was able to retain ridiculous amount of information, meaningless or more important.

Let’s see how long it would take Miss Fuentes to figure out that she doesn’t need to pay for that one and if she’ll seek out the one that treated her to the drink in her hand. Hopefully the woman would make Lulu’s day. Maybe she’ll share her dinner if the girl was what Lu hoped for. In the meantime she’d content herself with a drink and one of her younger protégés playing with the man by her side, eyes glued to Arcadia.

[Arcadia Fuentes]

”That’ll be twelve dollars,” the bartender had said, tapping her impatiently on the shoulder to move her attention from the dancing club goers to him. She hadn’t even realized he was still there, waiting for her payment before leaving her alone to enjoy her beverage.

Damn. That’s one expensive drink, Arcadia thought, raising her eyebrows as her hands went to get her money.

But as she opened her glittering, green clutch to pay, she noticed his own attention went to the table area. She stopped and watched as his eyes stay there before he nodded his head and walked away without taking her money. Arcadia wasn’t really sure what had just happened but she wasn’t about to ask. Hey, it meant a free drink. Why would she try to interfere with that? She was a vampire, not an idiot.

Curiosity took hold of her as she watched the bartender go back to making drinks for other people, acting like nothing had happened. Her eyes drifted from where she was sitting at the bar to the table section. She scanned the roped-off section for any sign of an explanation for her free (and apparently exorbitant) drink. There must have been a good ten or so tables and most of them were full. After bouncing from person to person, vampire-to-vampire, her eyes rested on a violet-eyed woman who sat with two other people, drink in hand. Though she apparently had company, the woman just gazed at her as if there was no one else there. But this was no ordinary woman. Not only was this a vampire, but this was the infamous Luella Guillory.

Everyone knew who she was but it had taken Arcadia virtually no time at all to put the face with the name. There were so many vampires in town that sometimes it was difficult but Luella was not one who was easily forgotten. Not only was a she a coven master, but she was a very old vampire. Of course, there were others out there that were older than her but this didn’t take away from the mystery or sense of radiating power that emanated from her. But for some odd reason, she was not afraid of this older being. In fact, she was slightly exhilarated that Miss Guillory had taken, what Arcadia assumed was, an interest in her of all people.

As if she needed another reason to let her head, and ego, get bigger.

“Hmmm,” Arcadia mused silently, staring right back at Luella. ”This is certainly is turning into an interesting night.

At first, Arcadia tried to think of the most appropriate way to thank her. She could wait and see if Luella would come to her. No. That would never work. If her reputation precedes her, then there was no chance of that. A powerful vampire like that doesn’t go to others, others come to her. So that plan of action was dumped. Maybe she could just thank her from across the room. Surely she’d be able to hear her despite the music. But then again, that might be rude to just stay where she was and thank her. It would be disrespectful and when someone is generous to her, Arcadia never pays them back with disrespect…especially if that person could kill her in an instant if she desired to. So she went with plan C: go over to her table and thank her herself.

The hunger was beginning to burn in her veins, letting Arcadia know that she should get some dinner sooner rather than later. But she would wait awhile before returning to her hunt. This was more important and plus, she was already engaged in something else.

Picking up her drink, Arcadia sashayed across the bar area to where Luella was sitting with her two friends. But then she smelled the air and realized that the man at her side was a human.

Yeah. Friend. Sure, she thought humorously. That is, if you consider friends as dinner.”

She made her way to the table with ease, trying to be as graceful and lithe as possible. It was one of the many things that she liked about being a vampire. No more clumsiness or klutzy moves. There was a fourth chair at the table so Arcadia sat down, crossing her legs and smiling the charming smile that had doomed many a human. Of course she knew it would have little to no effect on Luella but she wasn’t trying to effect her anyways. She was being genuine for once.

“Thanks for the drink,” she stated with a playful tone, motioning to the glass at her right.

Arcadia paused, eyeing Luella’s guests and then focusing my attention back to the vampire who’d been so kind as to pay for her order.

”I know its rude to question kindness, but do mind if I ask why you chose to be so generous to me of all people?” she asked curiously.

She knew this went along with the saying curiosity killed the cat but she just couldn’t help herself.

I just hope I’m not the cat, she thought.

[Luella Guillory]

Well, subtlety or quick reflexes didn’t seem to be the forte of the bartender. Though the surprised look on Arcadia’s face made the elder one smile. She was a pretty thing, exotic a little like Lulu herself. Maybe that had been the thing that got her noticed in the eyes of the coven master. She liked things and beings that were a little different from the crowd, that stood out in one way or another. There was always something she liked about her victims too; there was always that something that got them noticed in her eyes as she decided to take them. In some it was a simple and obvious thing as looks, with others it was more subtle something, things that other people wouldn’t even see there. Sometimes it was the most random association.

The latest was the case with the man next to her, Ben. The name was mediocre at best, but the reason why she chose him was that there he had been standing in line with three other friends. You sense things from humans, Lu was able to pick up on details and Ben was obviously the leader of the group. So to separate him from the rest which she referred to as the herd, made her twisted mind amused. How they all trusted him to be up front and get them all in and then he just walks away, leaving the three to despair as they didn’t have it in them to be a little more vicious, to be independent. The most likely scenario was that they’d wait for some more, hoping to reconnect with Ben inside. If her thought process didn’t make much sense to you, don’t worry, most didn’t get her line of thinking.

Ah but her thoughts ran faster than the eyes of Miss Fuentes, though once the youngling’s gaze settled on her, Lulu didn’t react at all, save for a little tilt of her head. She could see the younger woman thinking about how to go on about things. Obviously, paying for one’s drink came as an unexpected thing. But the reaction it caused was what Lula enjoyed the most; the thinking, the evaluating and more thinking. Lu was glad that Arcadia had decided to come over; frankly that had been the point of this little charade on her part after all. Lula didn’t mind the Rogues as long as they knew their place and didn’t go around Aldenville causing trouble or getting in the coven’s way. Though in all honesty there were individuals she’d very much enjoy to have in the coven.

Lu’s protégé noticed the slight change in the air, glancing in Arcadia’s direction briefly, before Lu raised her hand towards her, stroking her cheek. She liked this particular young one and that was why she’d taken her under her wing. She still paid no attention to her dinner, letting the girl have her fun. Her gaze turned back to Arcadia as she seated herself and spoke. She had a pleasant voice and knew how to use it; there was that subtle playful underlining to it. Pretty thing indeed. “I hardly consider paying for one drink to be generosity Miss Fuentes,” Lulu spoke in her normal tone, not shouting above the music; that would be just so unbecoming of her. She felt the hunger of her newly arrived company. “However sharing a dinner would be just that,” she said, all the while looking into the other woman’s eyes curious for the reaction; not quite offering, but not crossing out the possibility either.

Lu had her legs crossed elegantly as she was leaning against the leather back of her chair; to a human being that chair would be pleasantly cool, but compared to Luella the chair was radiating some warmth. She could make herself appear warm for those few precious moments, be it by feeding or by taking a hot bath, both of which she loved doing. With age also came the increased ability to control hunger; sure she fed every night, but the painful need to feed seemed to have gone away. She took another sip of her bourbon and let out a soft sigh. “You have something a little different about you,” Lulu said, but chose to follow up that statement. “Every being does, but tonight you happened to be the one to catch my fancy,” Lu added. The girl didn’t need to think that she was special enough to catch her fancy. There was something little about everyone that could elicit a reaction in Lu; something she liked, hated or admired.

“You don’t have to worry about paying tonight,” she concluded, hoping that this wouldn’t mean the girl would leave, but if that was the case Luella wasn’t about to go back down on what’s been already offered to her.

[Arcadia Fuentes]

“I hardly consider paying for one drink to be generosity Miss Fuentes.”

Arcadia had to disagree, though silently of course out of respect. She’d grown up in a place where even the smallest gift was generous so she’d grown to think of even little things like one drink as a sign of kindness and she was thankful for it regardless. It may be awkward for a girl who seemed so selfish at times would actually be one of the more thankful, appreciative residents of Aldenville. So, despite Luella’s comment that she wouldn’t consider it generosity, Arcadia did. She raised her glass nevertheless and smiled in gratitude, remembering from her past to take every gift gratefully.

“However sharing a dinner would be just that.”

Ahh. So Lulu had sensed the thirst was getting to Arcadia. And as she discreetly eyed the human man who was also sitting at the table, she almost licked her lips though decided against it because she didn’t want to be too obvious. Instead, she merely sized him up and admired him for his subtle beauty, listening to the pounding rush of blood that coursed through his veins. Though she was not by far the youngest vampire around, she was thirsty and therefore had to use a bit of self-control to restrain herself from going at him. She shifted in her seat and turned her attention back to Luella, trying to detect if it was an offer or simply a statement of a fact.

Arcadia decided it was an offer and nodded her head ever so slightly, just enough to get the point across, hoping she wasn’t wrong because she really was not in the mood to be making a fool of herself.

Luella went on.

“You have something a little different about you. Every being does, but tonight you happened to be the one to catch my fancy.”

Maybe she’d had been being a bit too sure of herself so she didn’t mind when Luella put Arcadia back in her place. She had a tendency to get a bit cocky at times and she almost never got offended when someone told her to chill and come back down to planet Earth. Sighing, Arcadia took another sip of her drink as her acquaintance spoke, not wanting to interrupt and be rude.

“You don’t have to worry about paying tonight.”

Getting the hint, Arcadia uncrossed and recrossed her long legs, shifting in her chair to get more comfortable. She didn’t plan on leaving when she had not only an offer (or what she thought was an offer) for a nice meal if not a snack but some of the most interesting company she’d had in a long time. The night’s turn of events had gone from boring to intriguing in minutes and this was something Arcadia couldn’t walk away from. When you have a life as long as she does, you don’t pass up the opportunity of some fun.

”Thank you for your kindness, though you might not feel it is so special,” she responded, tilting her head to the side. ”It’s nice to have such fascinating company and as long as you don’t mind, I don’t plan on leaving.”

Giving Lulu her most dazzling smile, Arcadia went on.

”So, humor me. What brought you and your…friends, to Sangre tonight? Are you regulars or is it a special occasion that you want to,” Arcadia paused, glancing quickly at the human nearby who was completely unaware of what was going on apparently, ”celebrate with a bit of fun?”

Okay, so the word “fun” came out in a kind of purr and it was completely unintentional but for some reason, Arcadia thought it was perfect for that moment.

[Luella Guillory]

In all honesty, such gratefulness hasn’t been something Lula had quite calculated in when she had first ordered a drink. She eyed the woman in front of her curiously, mulling over the newfound piece of information. Hiding her interest in the creature seated opposite her would be no good, especially since she had clearly shown it by doing what she’s done. No, Lu was hardly trying to be subtle. This only went to show that there’s always something that surprises you, something that you haven’t quite expected to happen. And the gratitude for the simple gesture on Arcadia’s part was indeed unexpected. Then again that was not a bad thing really; despite all the cockiness the woman possessed she knew how to appreciate things. And that was not only not bad, but that was very good thing to know how to do.

Lu smiled in a friendly manner in return, enjoying the company. It wasn’t that she grew bored of the vampires in the coven, for that was hardly the case. There was always someone new, older or younger to talk to. The thing was that Lu didn’t pass judgment before at least making an effort to get to know something about said person. That was why she was one of the coven members that didn’t despise the Rogues because of the sole fact of them not being members of the coven. In Lu’s opinion it would restrict her possibilities way too much for her liking. She enjoyed the comfort of the coven, of the group and perhaps that was her weakness, but she didn’t like that comfort enough to shut everyone else out and stick only to her comfort zone – she’s hardly ever been the type.

“Well you are most welcome,” she said. Lu still wasn’t sure how to refer to her aloud, as she rarely took liberties with such things. Some might be surprised where respect gets you when fists cannot. Starting of in a patronizing manner would’ve been too easy, but also limiting. And frankly Lu wasn’t a fan of limits of any sort. She wasn’t looking at Arcadia as she followed up on what she had said moments ago, looking at Ben and how her girl was faring with him. “I’ll only be delighted if you indeed decided to stay. In fact that had been the point of the whole thing,” she smiled knowingly. Why else would she have bothered with buying Arcadia the drink? It had been one of the few possible ways to gain her attention and hopefully tip the scales in favor of her coming over. The prospects were endless and it’d be rather entertaining to see how they would play out. Lulu shifted in her chair a little, pulling the hem of her short dress a little lower. Hardly out of modesty, more of a lack of action to occupy her hands with, letting them rest on her thighs afterwards. Her eyes momentarily settled on her drink, but for the time being, Lu made no move to reach for it.

Instead her gaze shifted towards the soon to be dinner and checked whether he had a supply of liquor at his disposal. Understand, it was one of Lulu’s numerous quirks to infuse some alcohol or drugs into the blood of her prey. After over two centuries, the woman needed a little change every now and then, no matter how deliciously the blood tasted to her even after all this time. It gave it a new twist. Some vampires would mutter she was weird, fewer to her face of course, but Lulu hardly cared for opinions of others. At least she didn’t care about most of them to the point where she’d change things just because someone thought it a good idea. Those that refused change, refused to adapt or try new things were in Luella’s opinion rigid in their take on things and maybe, just maybe they should keep their opinions to themselves.

Lu aimed her eyes at Arcadia at the final words the woman let out, the perhaps unintentional way they had been pronounced, the manner in which they came out. That manner warranted attention to say the least. This was why Lu liked females equally to males, something she had come to over the course of her life. And this creature was most likeable. “Just a regular night out, which one hopes turns into something just a tad bit more entertaining and unusual,” Lu said silently. When you remove the need to shout to get your words to the other person over the music, you get used to speaking quietly rather easily. Reaching for her drink, the coven master leaned a little forward to reach the glass and then took it to her mouth, sipping on her drink. It was much cooler than blood, she noted that randomly. “Which one of those would be your case Miss Fuentes?” Lu inquired with interest. “Just a usual night out or celebration?” she asked further, drawing on her own question to answer Lulu’s in return. She would hate to draw the other woman away from her original plans. Yes that was a sarcastic thought right there.