Nebellia de Rozeriem's Story

Nebellia de Rozeriem

The woman whose mind had been scattered to the winds wandered listlessly in the hallways, seemingly out of place. The tip of the pointer finger of her left hand was between her lips, tongue flicking out over it as she walked. Nebellia could most certainly sense it, yes, the scent that belonged to her Lexi-Pop was noticeably absent from the palace. As per the usual, she did not choose to wear shoes upon her feet, though today she had been more extravagant than usual and wore an ankle bracelet. For the scientist who normally did not wear such trinkets, today was indeed a rare occasion. There was cause for such lengths, however. There was something hanging in the air, she could smell it, and whatever it was radiated such deliciousness!

This sensation was the same as the one she had touched upon two years' previous when the king had returned from a visitation to Earth. It had clung to every fiber of his person and nearly driven Nebellia wild for its' exciting possibilities! Oh how she wished to place her hands on this specimen, to sniff and let the taste of that succulent blood roll beneath her tongue... Mmm, the thought was an immensely pleasant one. Of course, the scientist did not specifically wish to taste the blood to drink it, no, she had a purpose that was far beyond it. When her dear honey-bee had returned from his trip, she had seen that look in his eye. A look that had not left it since that night.

And oh how it had haunted him, how he had been so obsessed with whatever he had encountered. Nebellia had paid close attention to the demeanor of her cute king, how he had struggled, battled, and progressively lost more and more of that carefully guarded control as the days passed. A large part of her had already anticipated that he would leave the palace soon, though she hadn't particularly known which day it was to be. But she had witnessed it, a few nights' previous, the way he had clenched his fist when she had casually told him she was out of samples. Yes, he had most definitely snapped. It was all she could do to keep her excitement in! Her sweetie darling was indeed entranced by something so delightful, oh, she just had to see what it was!

A bubbling of laughter left her lips, bouncing off the walls and reverberating throughout the long, winding hallway. What a spectacle this was going to turn out to be! Although.... And then, the immensely wild grin that had unfurled upon her face was quickly replaced by a disturbing frown. She still didn't have any test subjects. That was a problem--now she had nothing to keep her occupied! Her golden orbs swiveled around, trying to find a target to entertain her. Without the king, she had no one to playfully pester. His temptress of a daughter was most certainly playing her wonderful games, though this thought was regarded with fondness. That princess was turning out fine indeed, always able to play the pieces on the chess board ever so nicely~

Still... it was not as if she normally asked for permission anyway, Lexi-Pop always conceded to her wishes to find more test subjects... But it was no fun if she didn't get to terrorize the guards! Like a child, Nebellia huffed out and suddenly flopped onto the ground in a rather inelegant manner. She proceeded to begin rolling about on the floor in the direction she had been walking in, caring naught for the fact for the carpet she was rubbing against as she did so. How many people had walked on this thing? Oh well, who cared! She was b-o-r-e-d! And that was never a good thing to be, not for a woman such as she.

She rolled past one of the turns to another hallway, however, this brought her to a flight of stairs. For someone who did not know Nebellia, this would've appeared as a frightening image. The woman literally began to tumble down the stairs and two of the guards that were posted at the bottom heard the scuffle. They looked up and soon had expressions of horror, for they mistakenly thought that she was in some sort of trouble. But the woman was certainly a tricky one and had planned out the whole encounter even before it began. She let herself fall a few more steps before taking advantage of the momentum and then somersaulted, pushing off from her hands as they brushed the ground to right herself upon her feet.

"You'll do!" Was the only thing the guards were able to hear, for her fingers brushed by each of the sides of their necks. A little to fast for the eyes to perceive, Nebellia had been using her tumble to mask her real intention of dipping each of her fingertips into a chemical potion she had recently concocted. When her fingertips touched their necks, both guards went out like a light and toppled over heavily to the ground. She grinned coyly, as wide as the cheshire cat. "Ah, so it did work~ Now for some fun, fun play..." Her voice had turned into a dangerous whisper as she bent down, grasping the collars of each of the guards. She tightened her hold and began to drag them happily behind her as she hummed loudly. Ohhh, she had to keep herself from skipping! This would definitely occupy her until the king got back, she was sure of it. If her calculations were correct, and they most certainly always were, she'd have both of these subjects back to their posts a few minutes before Lexi-Pop returned. More than enough time to have her way with things.

Tee hee hee.

Nebellia de Rozeriem

Alright, so she had... over-estimated. The fun with the guards hadn't lasted nearly as long as she had hoped! The scientist was sitting on the corner of her lab table, her dress wrinkled and random blood stains spattered here and there upon the ruffles. Not that she cared, far from it. Nebellia puffed out her cheeks as she swung her legs back and forth, crossing her arms as she observed the scene before her. Many of her test tubes and containers were over-turned, oh, and then there were those frothing guards on the floor. Oh dear, she had played a bit too hard. The woman stroked her chin, tilting her head. How to... get rid of this riffraff on her floors... She prodded one of them with the tips of her toes, not even getting a grunt in response. Oh dearest goodness gracious upon the sweet, desolate earth. She really had pushed it too far this time. Why were her toys always breaking? This was a real, serious problem!

She slid off the surface, straightening up in an odd manner. Ah, why was she so imbalanced? It felt as if--oh right, she was standing on one of the unconscious guards. She stepped off of him, putting her weight down especially when she placed her foot on his head. Heh, faces were so squishy to step on! She could just, oh, no no, she was getting very distracted. She was supposed to be focused on getting these failed test subjects out of her lab! And in tip top... Scratch that, she was sure she had shattered all of the bones in one of the arms of the guard furthest from her. And she had mismatched their fingers, proving it was bad to sniff lab chemicals before conducting experiments. She always messed up when she did that... Ohh, but the intoxicating scent of her compounds was too much to resist... It wasn't that Lexi-Pop wouldn't understand, but she had promised to be on better behavior when they visited Earth.

Promises were made to be broken!

Still, she had these bodies to content with. Er, specimens, they were... alive somewhere... Nebellia cleared her throat, grabbing them by their collars and dragging them out of her door. This wasn't going to be very effective and she certainly wouldn't get very far if she had to pull them everywhere. She had to find a place to hide them, somewhere stupidity was abound and the onlookers would assume these men were passed out drunk or something foolish. But where could she find such a location? Vampires were a smart breed by nature and hiding them in the mansion would backfire on her later. She had tried stuffing failures in closets some centuries back. The look on Lexi-Pop's face (while priceless) when he opened his closet doors only to find bodies tumbling out was enough to dissuade her from such antics. Twirling on her heel, the woman only debated for a moment or two more before choosing to skip down the hallway, a calculating look forming on her features. Hmm, she could go there, that would be the optimal route and if she timed it right, she really would be back right before him...

There were very few things that scared the servants at this point, but Nebellia was almost at the very top of that list, topped only by the king and perhaps his daughter on rare occasions. So the sight of her suddenly pushing the doors open to a section of the servant's quarters was terrifying, to say the least, and was accompanied by many of them scattering about and screaming in terror. It couldn't be helped! Whenever she ran out of experiments, she always kidnapped an unwilling servant or five. (Cut her some slack, the last time she only took a measly two!) This time, however, she was here for a different purpose. She grabbed one of them with practiced ease, the squirming servant squealing and trembling.

"P-Please don't harm me, M-M-Miss Nebellia! I-I-I am supposed to be p-preparing--" She cut them off with a swift knee to the stomach, knocking the breath out of the smaller vampire.

"I'm not going to harm you, little pet~ Fu fu fuuuuuwa." The servant was disturbed by her laughter and just shivered, not daring to speak. "I simply require your menial services to bring me somewhere...~" She didn't elaborate, just tilting her head and giving very vague gestures in a random direction. The servant nervously looked from her arms and back to her face, swallowing audibly.

"D-Do you... n-need um... me to drive.... you...?" A shout of laughter made the other vampire start and jump back several feet.

"Yes yes, that is what I meant, drive me! Vroom vroom, that's what those human children say? Perfect, let's do that! Take me to one of those cow breeding facilities at once~" A wide grin was settling on her features as she winked and didn't even look back over her shoulder as she turned, skipping through the doorway. The servant that was following her seemed to falter when they caught sight of the bodies but smartly did not comment, merely complying and helping her drag the two guards out the doorway. Nebellia didn't care if anyone else saw the happenings, they wouldn't be able to dispute her word later if they even tried. With a mismatched stare, she watched as the servant hurried away to bring the car to the front, pushing the guards into the backseat while Nebellia literally launched herself through the open window into the front. She landed gracefully on the seat, sitting much like a cat would and even looking the part as she adjusted a few locks of her hair as if preening.

The vampire got in next to her, looking frightened, nervous, and oh-so-antsy. Of course they were, and the smell of fear made her purr in contentment. How utterly adorable~ To be honest, she hadn't actually been in a car that often! It was kind of exciting and she pushed her head out the window, the wind brushing her face as they drove. It was a refreshing feeling but over quickly, too quickly. They were already pulling up in front of a... Her eyebrows raised, nose wrinkling. Well, it was certainly gaudier than she had thought, and the light show in the front was a bit on the offensive side. She turned her eyes back on the servant, who tensed up and tried to curl up into a ball in the driver's seat. Nebellia merely reached out and stroked the cheek of the underling, grinning in an unnerving fashion.

"Don't just sit there like a frightened pup, bring them inside!" She giggled to herself, oh, she was so very clever. (To be fair, this was actually one of her dumber ideas.) The servant seemed torn, not quite knowing what she was planning but the woman never exposed her plans, that was boring! Choosing the smarter path again, the underling got out of the car, tarrying over to the other side and opening the back door. The men instantly tumbled out, for they had been rather hurriedly stuffed inside of the car upon departure. The scientist didn't request help this time, easily grabbing them by their collars and dragging them inside as if this was the most natural thing in the world. There was something about her that made one not want to question her actions, for surely no one other than Nebellia could've waltzed in there with two bodies in tow and not be stopped.

As soon as she entered the bizarre club scene, she was greeted by more of the offensive lights, though dimmer now than they were on the outside. She looked around, biting her lip and wondering the best place to deposit these... And that was when she laid her eyes upon the most fantastic sight--a sight that completely blew away her intentions to return home before the king. Her expression lit up eagerly, hands releasing the bodies and the men simply collapsing on the ground. She sniffed the air, how, bloody, excellent. It was like a gold mine in here, quite literally~! Humans were scattered about, all humping one another as if hormonal dogs in a heated rut and so drunk off the atmosphere they were not apt to notice anything in their surroundings! Why hadn't she considered coming to these places before to get test subjects? It was perfect! And it would give her a great excuse to put her theory to test that different types of alcohol could indeed sweeten blood taste.

And without waiting a second longer, the woman pounced on to the dance floor.

Brigitte Lebelle

She had watched as the red haired woman had burst out of the club and almost get run over by an oncoming vehicle however Brigitte had not moved. His Highness would surely catch up to her and obtain the woman in quite an easy manner. Still, she had made sure to make herself a tad more visible encase things got out of hand, though of that she was quite doubtful. Her head was tilted slightly to the side as she saw His Highness emerge from the club.

“I do not require your presence, my sweet. Do transport yourself home.” His orders rang through her like a church bell in the dead of night. As His Highness moved away Brigitte stepped back, cloaking herself in the shadows of the building. She would be walking back to the mansion however this did not bother her in the slightest. Before Brigitte could actually leave the club property she got a whiff of a mixture of obnoxious chemicals, a scent that was unique to one person and one person alone.

Now when it came to His Highness orders Brigitte never disobeyed. There was one exception, only one thing that could stop her from doing what she was told. If ever Brigitte were to catch Nebellia in public without permission, she was to be found and brought back immediately. No matter what she had to do Brigitte must catch the crazed scientist at all costs. So as a car whizzed by with two woman in it, one who reeked of chemicals, Brigitte could only spin on her heel and follow the scent which trailed right back into the club and- ah, there she went. Nebellia practically leaped out of the car, dragging two mutilated bodies with her. On the other side of the vehicle stood a quiver servant, no doubt forced by fear into driving to the club. Brigitte strode forward and grabbed the servants wrist.

"Permission?" She inquired of the frightened vampire, her grip like iron and tone like a lullaby. This odd combination only caused the servant to tremble more to which Brigitte clenched her wrist tighter. "Permission?" She repeated, her voice dropping one octave. The servant shook her head from side to side rapidly, only wanting to return to the mansion and rid herself of The Kings odd and frightful underlings. Brigitte released the woman's wrist then pointed at the people who had been waiting in line when Nebellia had entered. "Thrall them." Without even waiting to see if the servant understood Brigitte had slid across the car hood and was making her way into the club. There were people in line who ranged from sobbing hysterically to shouting. They had not missed the sight of a blood stained woman carrying two gruesome corpses. Brigitte grabbed a nearby woman who seemed to be frozen in shock and dragged her along into the club, biting at her neck and drinking a large amount of blood as she did so. One had to be fully charged to take on Nebellia. Finding herself sated Brigitte tossed the now unconscious woman away from her, not caring in the least bit where she landed. Everyone would be thralled once Nebellia was secured and she had not taken enough to kill the woman.

There, two feet ahead lay the guards. Brigitte barely paid them any attention and neither did the people dancing. It seemed that the alcohol and drugs in their system made them only think the two unconscious men were a dream. As she stopped beside them Brigitte's eyes scanned the crowded club for Nebellia and an unease grew in her gut. For the oddest of reasons she could not remember she did not like these tight, dark areas. Brigitte saw a flash of short violet hair near the bar and quickly maneuvered herself among the withering, sweat covered bodies. The mass of bodies parted and Brigitte found Nebellia, leaning over the bar counter drinking from the throat of who seemed to be the bartender.
"Nebellia." Brigitte called as she approached the feeding vampire. Her hand shot out and grabbed Nebellia's shoulder, spinning her around so that they were face to chest. "Leave."

Nebellia de Rozeriem

Pale, something pale and thin was speaking to her. What a pallid color arrangement, so lifeless, so dull. Nebellia currently had her fangs nestled comfortably into a human male's neck, testing the blood flow, if one would. The man was already long lost in the throes of her bite, a dazed look on his features and his mouth gaping open slightly. Blegh! She relinquished her bite, the man sliding on to the floor with blood still flowing openly from her neck. A few droplets coated her lips and she licked them slowly. Tart, this one had a tart after-taste. She'd have to look into that. Always prepared, the scientist pulled out a test-tube that had been stowed away in the folds of her dress and she raised the tip against her fang-point. A bit of the remnant blood she had drank trickled down into the glass and she corked it, satisfied. Oh! That was right, there was that little interference to deal with.

She blinked, her wide eyes on the girl that had spoken to her. The rather dull hair color and drained appearance it gave the girl who had it--such a palette could only belong to little Bree-Bear. That cute thing had spoken in the softest of tones, yet had put such cool firmness in her words. Nebellia released a squeal, laughing at a higher pitch. How cute! The servant girl really thought she was in a position to give orders? Leave? Now? She hadn't gotten her samples yet--she had planned it all so perfectly. No matter how insane she acted, everything was always under control, her predictions were not wrong. And this pale wisp was sorely out of line to try her hand at directing the scientist. A girl who was not even aware of her own identity, to say the least.

Nebellia straightened oddly, the grin that had unfurled on her face splashed with droplets of blood, the substance dripping down her chin slightly. There was an odd sort of beauty in the visage, a feat she always seemed to accomplish, no matter the circumstances. "Did you come here to play~?" She purred, a dangerous lilt in her voice. She had gone off the deep-end, officially. And yet was in the utmost control of herself, how wonderful. She easily jumped over the bartender who was on the ground and pounced the servant girl, pushing the other to the floor. The humans around them continued to dance, a few gave some silly cheers at the motion. Oh they wanted a show, did they? She would give them a show. With a sneaky, devious edge to her golden eyes, she grabbed a handful of Bree-Bear's hair and pulled the girl's head up roughly with delicate fingers.

"Aren't you the cutest... little... thing~" She spoke with a lilting edge to her vocals. "Sadly, I don't have the time to indulge your fickle whims of returning right now... But we will! Just as soon as I procure my samples, huhuhu... So stay right h-e-r-e~" She enunciated the last word very clearly before releasing Bree-Bear from her grip and promptly stepping up off her. Now! Where was she? Tapping her blood-stained chin with a single digit, the woman turned to regard the humans intoxicated off their own vibes. Mmm, perfect, so ripe for the picking... She couldn't pick just one, she wanted them all! Sadly, there wasn't enough room in the car for all of the test subjects here... She lightly stepped on her feet, much akin to a ballerina, as she flounced over towards the dance floor. Her chin was tilted upwards as she sniffed the air, she had trained her senses to be able to detect the best blood to experiment on. She was able to pick out precisely four targets, ah, perfect! Just as she had anticipated, there would be enough room for this exact number. A sly glint in her eye flashed as the woman bent over, easily balancing on her hands and propelling herself off of them to jump into the crowd.

Exactly nine and a half minutes later, the floor was littered with unconscious bodies, those that had gotten in her way had to be dealt with of course. At her feet were the four she had chosen, all knocked out for the moment. Nebellia hummed, quite content with her catch this evening. The little servant girl had done precisely as she asked, still laying on the floor. The scientist skipped over, happily bending down slightly and winking down at Bree-Bear.

"Now we can leave~ Oh and don't worry about erasing their memories, I already took care of that~" If the girl could express surprise on her facial features, Nebellia was certain it would've been there. She was always many steps ahead, hadn't it been clear by now? "Those bodies aren't going to drag themselves and besides, I've gotten what I came for. No reason to linger, heh!" She giggled and straightened up. Yes, she was satisfied with her work tonight, though it had turned . Now, time to see if her next deduction was going to come true~

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Garreth Vilhei Frost

This human girl, she appeared to have an endless supply of that inner-fire. It was intriguing, really, how she still fought back despite his statements. She was not an easy one to crack, then again, he did not have any intentions of playing this game so harshly as to shatter the image she had built up. Not immediately; that was a process best taken with care and precise planning. He did not move to stop her, merely watching the shuffle of objects into her bag, the stacking of books upon the table in numerical order. She seemed to be almost too conscious of being in control of things, the meticulous way in which she was organizing her things a sure sign. Sadly for her, with him, there wouldn't be much of a modicum of control that would work in her favor.

The pattern they had fallen into so easily was mimicry of what had happened two years ago. Oh, certainly, she had been friendly at first, when she was under her misconception of 'equality'. He had been quick to dispel it, much to her chagrin, and thus had thrown up these ridiculous barriers. The same ones she was relying on in the present. It could be regarded as almost comical to someone like Garreth, the way she hid behind her facts and practiced distant behavior. Yet, as with all performances, there was a flaw--a chink in the armor she had tried so hard to build up. And he was going to have fun exploiting it, even if she didn't realize he was aware of it quite yet. He was a bit more dangerous than she was giving him credit for being.

She regarded him coolly, mouth set in a firm line as she quietly asked after who had contacted her. He merely chuckled again at her question, moving his hand back towards his pocket almost as if he was going to give the phone back to her. "No one important," He said, halting his motions and instead settling his hand on the desk. Did she think it was going to be that easy? Not when he was this entertained. She would be allowed her phone back when he saw fit, and now was not the proper time for interruptions.

He would not admit it to her out loud, but perhaps a part of him (a very small part, mind) had wanted to have these interactions once more. Everything in the lykae society was settled so nicely into place, and no one dared to challenge his authority if they did not have the bite to go behind the words. Quite literally speaking, of course. Yet, it wasn't really the banter that interested him as much as it was the way in which she controlled her actions and chose her words. She was a thinker and that in itself was an intriguing concept, for lykae women barely if ever had words worth listening to. This human, who was so thoroughly entranced by this idea that males and females were equals, heartily believed her opinion was worth it and this fact fascinated him. How misguided could she be to have such flawed perceptions? It really would be fun to strip her of those notions.

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and simply giving her an intent silver-eyed stare. An effective player did not always antagonize. Just as he would let her have a bit of fun, he would let her choose her own actions, for a time. There was no way she was going to slip out of his grasp so easily and he was aware of all her movements. There was no way she would be able to move fast enough to elude him so he had no reason to worry. He could take the time out to relax and observe, besides, she always seemed to get unsettled when he sent her a piecing stare. He kept his casual smirk on his face, raising his eyebrows, not deigning to issue any further dialogue for the time being.

Ah, that scream. As he drank the aphrodisiac which had taunting him so for the past two years, Alexander’s mind couldn’t quite stop thinking about the scream. Her scream. The sensations mixed to an unbelievable high because part of him thought of it as yet another thrill; her fear of him. It was delicious. Alexander had always enjoyed riding his victims with fear because it made the blood so much sweeter as adrenaline intensively soared through their veins, and this time was not different in that regard. Yet a tiny, tiny, almost unrecognizable part of him didn’t like the tone of her scream, like he’d wanted a different kind of scream. It taunted him, this odd little jab. This little inkling of something he was not quite familiar with… not with humans.

Normally Alexander would be so busy feeding; his mind would numb itself to fully enjoy every little sensation in the taste of the sweet life source, but this time her scream simply kept lingering, much like the taste of her blood had previously. Strange, it was – so very strange. The blood he could understand, but now this? As if he didn’t fully appreciate the fear in her scream and the horror in her eyes. Hmm. Ah, but the scream did not take long to change into a moan, and as that sound mixed with the remnant of her scream, it fell into the background. He liked the sound of a woman in pleasure much, much more, be she human or vampire.

She’d stopped fighting him, instead reveling in the pleasure, and Alexander finally let himself do the same when her thighs tightened around his. He almost automatically let go of her wrists to snake his arm around her waist, bringing her infinitely closer. He couldn’t say he disliked the way she melted at his touch, the way her body worshiped his teeth in her. Normally humans would feel pain at him feeding from them. In fact, he had never found a human who actually reacted this positively to the bite of a vampire. Perhaps pain turned her on? That was the only real explanation he could think of, but the thoughts didn’t linger long, because by the gods, she was sweet. So sweet.

Soon, actually much too soon it seemed, Alexander felt his endless thirst diminish and he was full at last. He had not been since he had last fed on her, and it was as satisfactory as anything he had ever experienced. The king drew his teeth out of the human woman in his arms and let her head slump onto his shoulder her frail body trembling against his. He let out a slight sigh, the hand which had remained on her cheek, moving to brush through her hair, his other one holding her close. Her full lips were parted as she tried to regain the breath he seemed to have stolen.

Alexander himself was as calm and collected as ever, finally having sated his seemingly endless hunger, and he finally opened his eyes, glancing down at the red mane his fingers were currently caressing, her fiery locks flowing effortlessly between his strong fingers. He licked the remaining blood off the side of his mouth before leaning in to let his tongue remove the remains from her neck, easily licking it clean, healing up the puncture wounds as his fangs slid back into hiding. This had been a rush unlike any other. He didn’t know why, but it had been different from last time, perhaps because he had let her be aware and in control of her body through the experience. This was better than slaying Lykae on the battlefield.

And he was still holding her for some reason he did not recognize himself. He didn’t want to let go, but then, he saw no actual need to either. She was dazed and sated right now. It would be a while till her mind fully realized what had happened, and he intended to have her settled in properly beforehand. Already he dreaded the day when she would die of old age and he could no longer drink her blood, because right now it felt as though he could never drink from another. This was not loyalty, nor was it any kind of possessiveness. He merely liked her blood.

Alexander shook off the thoughts then, moving only the hand in her hair to unlock the car and somehow managed to elegantly step outside of it with her still half in his arms in only a second. Swiftly the king moved then, the human quickly moved to be nestled in his arms much like you would carry a bride, and his legs bore the two into the mansion. With a wave of his hand he dismissed the groveling servants at his feet, most likely wondering what their king was doing, and why. Hm, he didn’t much care for their gossip, so he’d only added a brief “Get me Nebellia.” They could think what they wanted, really. He was certain they would reach a somewhat correct conclusion anyway.

He carried her with easy through the building until he reached a room unoccupied. He had intended this room for her from the second they had arrived at the house; earth, really. He opened the door with the one hand he could loosen from her without letting her go, and then, as he stepped inside, a foot elegantly, yet harshly, kicking the door shut behind him, he let her slide onto her own two feet, his firm hand continuously resting on the small of her back, the other one moving up to tuck her chin upwards, forcing her gently to look at him.

He was not being forcible with her, because he didn’t feel the need to. He wanted her to know that when she was acting the way he wanted her to, like now, he would return the favor. Alexander could be gentle, and he could feign warmth unlike any other. She would learn soon enough that she would be treated much better if she sought to please him. Although… honestly he liked a little bit of resistance. He simply needed it to be more… playful, for all intents and purposes. He liked for it to be a bit of a game, like when she had played hard to get in that bar, pretending she was not interested, yet obviously was. He’d liked it because it was different. That didn’t mean he wanted actual resistance.

Ah no, Alexander liked his women more willing than that, and they always came to him in one way or another, but with her, because he could not be without her blood, he’d simply had to make an exception. Ah well, she’d come around soon enough. He supposed. Alexander smiled vaguely at that thought as he looked into her grey eyes. Perhaps a few things still needed explaining. “I can give you many things, Simone… so much pleasure.” His voice was calm and sated; a little seductive, as though he had been through that orgasm right along with her, his green eyes intense to be point of almost hypnotizing, as though she was the most important thing in his life.

“Please know that I do not intend to take your body against your will. It is yours to command if you so wish, but I will require your blood once a day. You have no choice in that matter, of course, but I do myself recognize that my own behavior has not been exemplary, and for that you may consider me less than I am, but I assure you that will change.” He let go of her then, feeling comfortable now that she was in the room he’d wanted her to be in. “I understand that your trust will come slowly, and you may not believe me, but I sincerely do wish for you to be as comfortable as possible in my home.”

Why was he explaining himself, really? He wasn’t sure, if he had to be honest, and hell, that right there had almost been an apology. Well, obviously that was only to make her want to work more with him. Yes, of course. Earth born human women had a tendency to be rather defiant in their behavior, and he did so wish to have her body pliant while he drank from her, so of course he would have to remedy his previous, rushed mistakes. Yes, that was all there was to it.

The room they were in was luxuriously designed in Victorian style. It had all that she would need to feel comfortable: a writing desk with a chair, a very expensive double bed, even a sofa by the barred windows, a big closet, and her own bathroom attached which included both a shower, a tub and of course a toilet with a complimentary sink – that much was of course a given. The room was not the biggest in the house – although it was still quite big by normal standards –, but Alexander considered it more than fitting.

If she required more modern décor, he would procure it. Mostly because he himself did not particularly care how she wanted the room and if she felt uncomfortable, she was more prone to try to escape. His guards would most likely be as rough with her as they were with the other slaves. Maybe even take a sip. He’d have to make sure they did not, because he’d already found he did not like others drinking from her. On the subject of drinking, where the hell was his adviser anyway? As the thought came to mind, a mousy voice peeped up from the door beyond the closed door: “Your majesty, Miss de Rozeriem is not on the premises.” Alexander outwardly appeared to ignore the servant, but he’d most certainly heard her, and he was not pleased. Not in the least.

He would have to send someone to retrieve her. Perhaps the captain would be most successful in that particular endeavor. His adviser could be most difficult to deal with and where the hell was Brigitte even? If she was not home soon, she would face punishment once she did arrive. He would not tolerate any sign of her maybe disobeying his orders.

Brigitte Lebelle

Nebellia's sudden rush at her, and then the pinning to the floor had not fazed Brigitte in the slightest. No, it had been the command. Her main objective was to secure Nebellia but then she was told to stay on the floor among the stomping and dancing feet of the lust drunk humans. Her body had shaken slightly as she dwelled on her orders. She had to bring Nebellia back and yet she could not due to Nebellia telling her stay still. Brigitte closed her eyes and let the thumping of the bass wash over her. Nebellia was just below His Highness in the hierarchy. Though she was not Brigitte's master the vampire still had a large amount of power...most of which came from the fear she impregnated others with. In the end, it was always safest to obey one or the other. Brigitte slowly opened her eyes and stared up, realizing that the humans who had once been frantically rubbing themselves together now lay with her on the floor, some bleeding worse than others. Ah Brigitte muttered to herself, understanding what had happened. Her lips pursued only a fraction of an inch before they let out a gentle breath of air.

His Highness would most certainly be furious at her for her disobedience. She would take whatever punishment he would give her as whatever His Highness wished to do, or have done to her would happen. Perhaps a foot or so away to Brigitte's left, a human male groaned in what sounded like a mix of pleasure in pain, and then thudded to the floor. Her bright hazel eyes slid over to stare at him as his face connected cleanly with the floor. Beside him stood a pair of ornate boots, decorated with a splattering of blood that could only be called elegant. Brigitte's gaze traveled up to see the owner of said shoes who was of course Nebellia, now stained with more blood than when she had first arrived. Though the vampire had an air of pure insanity to her it was the cold look of sanity in her eyes that gave Brigitte pause. Nebellia moved herself with ease around the collapsed humans until she stood with her feet on either side of Brigitte's waist.

"Now we can leave~ Oh and don't worry about erasing their memories, I already took care of that~" the psychotic woman sing-sang as she bent forward, winking at the end of her words. Nebellia motioned to the human who Brigitte had just watched fall and three others right next to him. "Those bodies aren't going to drag themselves and besides, I've gotten what I came for. No reason to linger, heh!" She exclaimed, her eyes glinting with delight. Brigitte took Nebellia's words as "Get up and take the bodies with you." and so she did as she was told, ever the obedient dog. Placing her palms flat against the warm club floor Brigitte pushed herself up and off the floor. She then turned an eye towards the four chosen humans, wondering how she might exactly go about carrying them. If Nebellia had any intention of carrying them then she would not have told Brigitte to do so, in which case Brigitte could not count on any help from her. Scanning the club with it's flashing lights and pulsating music Brigitte was able to locate a thick curtain that was tied together with a sturdy looking cord. Deciding on her course of action she retrieved the curtain cord and then pilled the four humans on top of one another. Once the humans were stacked like meat-cakes Brigitte wound the cord around them then placed it over her shoulder. Nebellia wanted the humans yes, however she said nothing about them being unscathed. Thanks to the strength of her two millennia of vampirism pulling the four adults was an easy task.

As she dragged them behind her up and out of the club Brigitte found that the street was now deserted. It seemed that the servant she had told to thrall those waiting outside had done her job. And yet...where was the vampire? Brigitte's eyes narrowed as she searched around. She had told the girl to thrall the humans yes, and she had expected her to wait outside afterwards as would normally happen yet she was nowhere to be seen. Pressing her tongue against her teeth Brigitte rotated her body towards Nebellia, who stood beside her poking at the unconscious humans.

"Well?" She asked. Brigitte tipped her head in the direction she had originally been leaving in before she had caught Nebellia's scent. That was the way back to the mansion however with no secure means of getting back the two were practically stranded. Under normal circumstances Brigitte would have just walked however Nebellia could not be allowed to just carouse the streets and seemed to have an issue with taking random vehicles. Knowing that it was most definitely past the time she should have returned to the mansion Brigitte contemplated the idea of whether or not someone would be sent. For her? Most likely not. But if His Highness knew that Nebellia was out...yes. Daniel would be sent to search for her. If the servant girl had returned she would most likely be reporting where she had left Nebellia. Brigitte decided that this was most likely the case, and so the duo should make themselves scare, but noticeable enough for Daniel.

Dropping the rope that she was pulling the humans with Brigitte grabbed a small stone and drew a star next to the club door, with the right point stretching outwards more than the others. It would tell him where the two would be waiting. Brigitte picked the rope back up and began dragging the human stack towards the alley way to the right. They would wait for Daniel there and mostly avoid detection. Brigitte eyed Nebellia, who followed the human stack as she continued to examine them. At least she had a means of distracting the vampire for the wait. Although Brigitte knew she must return to the mansion at once it was vital she remain here and wait for the inevitable help that would soon arrive.

Ah, sweetness, he was annoyed, was he not? She felt like giggling in joy, but refrained, merely looking up at him with a smirk on her face. He was such a poor little thing, wasn’t he? Oh so bothered by her merely being this close. She wondered how he’d react if she did more. Like, say, if she kissed his neck… nibbled on his ear lobe… tangled her slim fingers into his long hair. Okay, on second thought, maybe she should be contemplating something else entirely. Like, say, something that wouldn’t cause her to want to jump him then and there. Irritating little thing this attraction was. More irritating because it would not simply allow her to ignore it completely.

His eyes were slightly narrowed, a show of irritation, although she could tell he was trying hard to pretend as if he didn’t give two fucks either way. Men, such silly things. This one in particular, oh but this was fun… turning the cards around. Ah yes, he’d definitely enjoyed goading her, so now she’d damn well enjoy it the other way around, she would. Then, however, the tall male moved, ever so slowly taking her hand. He was not entirely gentle, but then, he wasn’t forcible enough to break anything, so Sapphire, curious to see what he’d do, let him do it, theatrically widening her eyes to feign innocence.

Of course there was there obvious spark of amusement in her eyes, but she didn’t mind him seeing through it. In fact, she wanted him to. For a second she wondered what was up with him tilting her wrist back the way he did. But then she realized… this was him silently telling him how much it bothered. Aw, well, poor thing, wasn’t he? He wasn’t scaring her, and she merely kept up the smirk, as if to say “that the best you can do?” but she remained quiet. He’d get it.

She only grinned further when he moved his face towards hers. Oh, he was simply asking for it now, wasn’t he? She was milking this one for all she could. This upper hand he’d unwillingly given her was not going to go to waste. No way. He’d been a prick. He deserved a bit of payback, although he obviously disagreed with her. Not that she particularly cared much for what he thought… in that context, anyway. Hey, wait, no… she didn’t care at all. He meant nothing, just like his opinions. Geez. Then, however, as Sapphire wondered if he was going to speak, he finally did, and she couldn’t help laughing softly at him, especially considering he hadn’t moved his face when her left go of her hand, so Sapphire folded her hands behind her back, looking up at him innocently.

“Fine. No hands,” she said teasingly, a mischievous grin on her lips. Mostly because no hands didn’t mean no touching, so she merely agreed to it and leaned in, her mouth barely brushing his before the tip of her nose ever so elegantly began tracing the cut of his jawbone to his neck, where her lips took over, dancing up the smooth, pale skin. Then she laughed softly against him. “See?” She added, referring to her not using her hands in the slightest. He really should’ve phrased it differently. Not that that would keep her from teasing him, but hey. Oh, and on another bright side: if she bothered him enough, he’d most likely leave her alone. She wanted that. She did. Really.

The blonde woman then added something she’d wanted to previously, whispering it into his hear, purely because it would make her breath tingle upon his skin. “And you know, I’ve managed for quite a while without you, lover. So how about you stop acting like I need you, and start admitting to yourself that there’s a reason you’re doing this. Obviously you don’t find me ‘amusing’ anymore, yet you’re still hanging around.” She gave a light chuckle at that before concluding, “I rest my case.”

---

---

When Daniel hurried in front of her, holding his arms out as if to stop her, she merely narrowed her eyes and kept walking. Until his words joined too, and she immediately paused, folding her hands in front of her in a most dignified manner. “Not in a patient mood, Daniel,” she told him, an unspoken warning in her voice. She was very, very far from, and most would not have dared step in front of her like he’d done when she was like this. Then again, Daniel would not have been in this situation if he hadn’t gambled in the first place. She was about to move around him when he finally said "Okay look, love, I'm an idiot. That's common knowledge. And you're obviously not an idiot, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now because you'd be too busy swooning to be angry with me."

She raised an eyebrow. Had he only just figured that out not? Regardless, it was something, and he was being sincere for once. “Then do not mistake me for one,” she noted, watching him as he continued speaking. Just a vampire, eh? Well, weren’t they all? And insufferable prick did describe him quite well, didn’t it? Of course, the pace of his words did not escape her either. He was a little too fast to be as deliberate as he would usually be, and it made him so much more believable. It seemed the good captain had decided to dance to her melody and actually show some sincerity for once. However, that last bit about him wanting her to tell him what would make her happy, had her smiling dryly. “Do you really care?” She countered, her voice skeptical.

His following reply surprised her quite a bit, and as he talked, Alanya listened, tilting her head slightly to the side, the anger in her amber depths replaced by thoughtfulness and just a touch of curiosity. His words were not what had her wondering the most, however… because his smile was. It was one of fondness, like he was recalling a happy memory. She had to say, it all surprised her quite a bit. Of course she knew Daniel was a loyal man, but the way he spoke made it seem as if it was due to more than just duty. Of course, it was Daniel, and he had a penchant for adding little things like that on purpose. At the same time, however, the pace along with the fact that he looked surprised with himself, had her wondering.

Curious man, he was. As he almost slumped against the wall, Alanya watched, pondering the many sides to him. How could anyone ever hope to figure that out entirely? Oh, she knew she was more aware of his inner working and goals than most others, but that did not mean she understood entirely. She wanted to, however. If for nothing else, then the conquest of it. The hand to his own face, and the awkward laugh, had her decided one thing: he had been absolutely sincere throughout this apology of his. That was really all she’d wanted from him; a sincere apology. Too bad she’d had to get angry for him to get it together.

They’d both been quiet for a while, when he suddenly said "Well, I got that off my chest. My face is probably all red though now, I bet. I do want you to know that I apologize for fucking things up. I don't ever mean to make you angry and I wish I was better at not angering you. You don't deserve my attitude." Alanya shook her head at him, a slight smile on her lips now. And just like that, her mood had changed. She was about to say something in reply when he spoke up again, speaking of the guards. He seemed so shocked by himself… perplexed… confused. So much so that she started to feel a little sorry for him. All this honesty at once couldn’t possibly be easy for him to manage.

And so, Alanya decided to give him something she was felt certain would get him back to normal. After all, she couldn’t have the captain of her father’s guard entirely disheveled. She said nothing as her feet took her to him. She stopped in front of him, her arms wrapping around his neck as she leaned in, kissing him just by the juncture of his lips. “You’re right,” she began, murmuring softly, “I don’t deserve your attitude, but I do accept your apology.” Then she laughed softly, “if only you’d been serious about it from the beginning.” With that, her lips finally met his, kissing him intensely, all of her attention seemingly going into that one kiss.

However, as she moved closer to him, wanting more proximity, the sound of her father had her drawing back, almost lazily turning her gaze towards him as he spoke. His words made her sigh. As always, king Alexander’s timing was impeccable.

---

---

Well, that was new, he thought to himself as he easily stepped aside, glancing at the smashing vase on the wall a bit to his side. He expressed nothing, his face completely void of any emotion or thought process. Instead he merely turned back to watch her, green eyes indifferent as to the mess she had just made, along with the fact that she’d actually just thrown a vase at him. Who did that? He shook his head at her then, silently making it known to her that he wasn’t entirely pleased, and that she would not benefit from such behavior. However, it was soon replaced by a shrug and a wry smile. “You need to learn that this will not be tolerated for long.” He told her casually, as if discussing the weather, yet something in his eyes made it clear that it was a threat.

However, before he got to saying or doing more, a servant girl delivered the news of his adviser being “not on the premises”, which frankly pissed the king off quite a bit. He showed no signs of having heard the female, however, because his eyes were still intensely on the redheaded little fireball. He wondered how long it was going to take for this one. It was a common pattern. Alexander didn’t do much to achieve it, but his human slaves more often than not, ended up begging him to touch them, wanting to join him in bed, even knowing of the consequences. It was beyond him why anyone would sacrifice life merely to enjoy one night with a man they hardly knew. Or course, though, he couldn’t blame them. After all, he was pretty irresistible, if he did say so himself.

Alexander sighed when Simone screamed for help and ran towards the door. Well, that sure as hell wasn’t going to do her any good. He merely turned to watch her, wondering what on earth would make her think she had a chance of escaping that way. Silly human. Hadn’t she realized yet that he and his people were, in fact, vampires? Did she know nothing of his race? Well, if she didn’t, he wasn’t so surprised she couldn’t quite grasp how superior his race was to hers. And well, any others too. Demons and Lykae alive were going to lose by the end of this war.

Well, here she went with it again, banging her shoulder into things. He didn’t let her actually do more than open the door, however, because he swiftly strode to her, putting an arm around her from behind, keeping her there in his grasp and in his home. Then he pulled her in, swinging up her legs so that he could carry her, not caring one bit about any struggles. He put her slowly on the bed before raising an eyebrow at her. “Next time you try that, it may be my guards who catch you and believe me; that’s something you want to avoid.” Then he straightened, aiming to leave her for a bit. He had some things to take care of. Like get his adviser and his personal servant home. Those two were going to drive him insane.

“I recommend you stay here. The servant will be told to procure you any meal you would like. You need to replenish the blood you lost.” With that, Alexander left her, his strides purposeful and firm as he walked out the room, closing and locking the door behind him. Then he gave the servant a look. “You’re to be at her disposal.” He ordered and though the servant looked rather nervous, she merely bowed her head and nodded “yes, your majesty.” Then he moved again. It didn’t take him long to find suitable guards, only stopping to look at the pair. “Make sure the human does not leave the room I put her in,” he merely said, leaving it up to them to figure out who and where and how.

Once more, the king was moving, and it certainly did not take him long to find the captain… with his daughter no less. He cleared his throat, making his presence known. “Captain Bowman,” he began clearly, drawing both of their attentions. “I would much appreciate it if you would go fetch Nebellia, along with Brigitte. Presently.” He wasn’t angry per se; he would just sometimes like to be spared the show.

Sabine Marx


She found the situation amusing did she? Her blue eyes were laughing and it was a curious sight. It wasn't often that Sabine saw happy eyes so close. And the innocent look. It was that moment that Sabine knew that he would not like whatever she did next. It was his responsibility at the moment to let her know that this did not please him in the slightest. Humans were supposed to shy away from him, flinch, back away from his quite anger. But Sapphire was not one for that. She never had been. It was no surprise, looking back on it, that she would not back down. Well, there were other ways of dealing with that.

Sabine did not have a chance to enact any of his other ways of dealing with the blonde, however, because she'd leaned forward. Too close. Much too close. His body tensed, but she merely ghosted her lips across his in a brief second. His jaw clenched as the very tip of her nose drew across his skin. It was impertinence, it was irritating, but yet all of a sudden he could feel her body just the barest of centimetres away, almost near enough that he could feel her heart beat as if every tiny movement she made stirred the air and reminded him of her proximity.

She whispered in his ear, it was some new piece of argument, but he was too busy dealing with his annoyance and some strange sense of arousal brought on by her nearness to really care just what she had to say. She was simply a human, she shouldn't do such things to him. He was just being foolish over this whole matter. This was some kind of test of his patience sent by the fates, and he would not lose to a human. He'd dealt well enough with the second of contact initiated with the smack, she hadn't been in control of herself then, but now he could tell by her mannerisms that she thought she had the upper hand in the situation.

"Sappire," he purred, turning his head slightly and dipping it so the side of his face was against hers and she'd be able to hear him but not see his face. He had not moved at all she'd done whatever nonsense she'd thought to do, but now he did with the same slow deliberate motions. He rested his hands between her waist and hips for a fleeting second, saying nothing, but then he shifted back to the middle of his feet, straightening and raising his head as he lifted her in the air. "I'd quite appreciate it if you abstained from touching me." he said in the same tone of voice, keeping her suspended in the air for a moment as if she was a doll before setting her down an arms length away.

He straightened again, releasing her and folding his arms over his chest. "I'll rephrase: I do not like being touched. Do not touch me." his voice was cool, but it was almost conversational. He wasn't terribly angry, just annoyed enough to rebuke her. "And you still do amuse me, kleine Mause, as you seem to be the only creature insane enough to actually attempt to goad me. It's a rather curious ailment. I do wonder how you keep yourself out of worse trouble with such a reckless attitude."

The tension of those moments where she had been so near lingered, though he'd removed her from his immediate presence. Though he did not want her to touch him, there was, in some closed part of him, a slight bit of regret. A little bit of regret and a wish that he could pull her nearer again or whisk her away, make her his in some way. He couldn't tell if it was merely base lust or something else. Lust did not linger, it was there and it was gone. But this, this had laid in wait, brought him back here like some kind of absurd magnetism. Maybe it really was fate and she a test. He didn't believe in such things though. He also didn't believe in daemon relationships with humans, though such links had spawned some decent beings, such as little Lena, but links between mortals and daemons didn't last. Mostly because the humans died so very quickly. And they were incompetent anyway.

Lust wasn't so terrible a thing, there were beautiful humans, Sapphire was certainly beautiful, but to bed a such a base being? Almost as bad as taking a Lykae.

But what about her side? What exactly had possessed her to do such a thing? If she'd wanted to irritate him there were quite a couple less risque things she could have done, none of them involving her face so very close to his. Were there more motives on her side than just to irritate him? Was she trying to court him or something? A small smirk curled on his face of its own accord from that thought. That would be quite amusing. Stupid humans.

---

Daniel Bowman


Daniel watched the princess as she moved closer, realizing that he had indeed saved his own ass when she wrapped her arms around his neck, an almost gentle look in her eye for a moment. His arms curled around her waist as she leaned up and kissed the side of his mouth. Well, that had worked. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but he did know that he would need to take it apart and work it out so he could use it again, just in case. It must have been the note of sincerity in his voice. Which was a shame, because that was a difficult sound to create. He was good at such things, but there were some emotions that simply could not be duplicated. Sincerity, empathy, desire were all out of his reach. He couldn't be honest when he wasn't, he couldn't care when he didn't, and he could pretend to want something that he had no interest in. What was the point? There simply was no need to utilize such things.

The kiss was fulfilling, or at least, it had promises to be, especially as she began to draw closer still. His hand was lifting to cup the back of her neck when she moved back. He straightened immediately, turning his eyes to the King. The brusque style of the issued order let Daniel know that the King wanted none of it. He wasn't happy. And, since he'd just gotten out of trouble with the fairer of the two royals, it was probably best to leave presently, though he did so wish to stay, as things were growing ever so interesting with Alanya.

"I shall, my King." He said with a bow. He leaned over in a quick gesture and kissed the princess on the cheek in chaste farewell. Of course Nebellia would be out somewhere, getting into trouble, he thought as he started off down the hall at a swift clip, leaving the king and his daughter behind. He'd get the rest of his task from the servants, if there was any more information. Usually it was better not to ask the King questions. Especially if he was in any semblance of a foul mood. And if the king wished to send him to go fetch Nebellia, then there probably was trouble, and Daniel would have none of that. He was already in dangerous ground, considering his doings with Alanya, care had to be taken with his Majesty.

The only thing he could find out from the servants after a brief and slightly forceful examination was that Nebellia had taken one of the cars and disappeared a short while before the King arrived back home. Brigitte had been with the King, as usual, wherever it was his Majesty had gone, but she'd not come back home with him. It was safe to assume for the moment that wherever they were they were together. Hopefully. Otherwise it would take twice as long to find them. And if they were together, perhaps the little ghost child's pragmatism would counter the taller vampire's...insanity.

The question of what vehicle to take was a different question entirely. His first choice would be to run, he loved running and it would be easiest to find them on foot, not constrained to the edges of the road, but they were in the human world and that was not an option. And there was a chance that Nebellia would try to escape otherwise, distracted by one thing or another. He didn’t not know what state she would be in, but if she was out it was probably a frenzied one. Poor Bridgette, if she was stuck with the King’s adviser she was probably suffering. He didn’t want to take a car though, that was not only boring, but very contracting. What other choice did he have though? Nothing else would contain Nebellia.

Daniel took the very same car Nebellia had not too long ago, as the servant had fled back home with it after completing the order Bridgette had issued her, assuming that Bridgette would provide transportation to bring the royal adviser home. Daniel didn’t know that, however, or he would have hunted down that particular servant, though she’d been hiding. Servants always seemed to need a bit of time to recuperate after an encounter with the caramel skinned vampire. He did not require an servant to chauffeur him though, a servant would just muck things up.

The captain of the Guard’s plan of attack in searching for his targets was haphazard. First he’d do a quick run through of the darkening city, just searching and hoping to get lucky. If he didn’t then he’d have to get out and search by foot and ask some humans whether they had seen Nebellia or Bridgette. Both of them were rather distinctive looking, so unless they’d thralled every single person they’d run across there was a good chance someone would have seen them. Hopefully.

Daniel drove through the most populated bits of the town, those heavy in nightlife, first. It seemed most reasonable that the court scientist would come for new blood, and a place rich in variety would be a very logical place to look. He did not notice the star scratched on the side of a place by the name of Blue’s Pub the first time around, however, because he’d been too busy noticing that there didn’t seem to be as many people on that street as there should have been. But on his second trip around, he’d decided that the street was a bit sketchy, his eyes picked up the scratched on star by the door. It seemed deliberate and it was worth a shot.

When he was finished parking the car in the most inconvenient way he could, for he refused to park across the street, Daniel emerged and stretched lazily before strolling over to the front of the bar and examining the scratched on sign. There was an arrow pointing at the alleyway next to the establishment. Well, it was worth a shot, wasn’t it? And if it turned out to not be them, well, he could handle whoever they were and continue on his quest.

When he entered the mouth of the alleyway he could distinctly smell Nebellia, her fragrance was one of chemicals and madness that carried in the air rather well. That meant that the star had to belong to Bridgette and they were indeed together. “Excuse me ladies,” He called out, leaning against the wall, a good natured smirk across his lips, “but I believe your ride home has arrived. I would make haste; the King has summoned your presences.”

Nebellia de Rozeriem

The scientist tutted to herself as she walked around the stack of bodies, keen eyes wide in her observance. Her heels clicked against the pavement of the alley as she strode around the humans she had taken, her precious little test subjects that would soon be safely in her lab. Ahh yes. Yes yes yes. All so marvelous, all so utterly fresh and...! Oh~! She could barely contain her joy at such a sight and nuzzled into the pile, rubbing her cheek against the blood smeared on the shirts of one of her victims. Such a sweet scent of glorious delight, the aroma was so intoxicating! She drew back, her dress now ungracefully spattered with human blood and her skin wet with the scarlet liquid. She lifted her fingers to her lips, flicking out her tongue to taste the substance. Hmmm...! It was funny, when humans got a taste of fear, their blood always carried a more noticeable tinge of iron.

As she drew back from her samples, the woman's nostrils flared and she instantly straightened up. Nebellia's ears twitched as she picked up an all too familiar scent, one that had been in her presence quite a bit longer than she cared to remember at times. Ahhh~ What was this~? The scent of royals, two of them, one of course her dear Lexi-Pop, but the other was the fiery temptress of a daughter he possessed. She licked her lips, grinning in anticipation. Just as she picked up his natural scent, she was more than certain that he also had picked up hers. He, of course, was a reference to the infamous Daniel Bowman, or as she called him, Danny-Pants. Among other things that she was too distracted to remember at this very instant.

He also carried with him the scent of hot lust but not, as she could figure, directed at any passing whimsy. Oh no no no... This was indeed entertaining. She turned on her heel as he called, a sly smirk on her face as she regarded him. The second variable had occurred, the first one turning obsolete the instant that servant girl had turned tail and left. Tsk! She was going to have fun finding that one and tying her up nicely... Perhaps the scalpel would be a good instrument to begin with...~ She giggled as she cleared her mind of such thoughts--she had time later to play with that one. For now, the precious Captain had made his appearance and the scientist did always like new toys. Even if he was one she had played with before~

She had been about to skip (Who walks, goodness.) over to him when she noticed a rather irksome thing upon the ground. To be more specific, it was a rather large and deep-looking puddle, the likes of which she did not want staining her heels! Despite her behavior, she was always conscious of the things that Lexi-Pop gave her and was always sure not to damage them... much. Tilting her head, she needed think only for a second before grabbing Bree-Bear by the ends of her long braid and pulling her forwards. The mouse of a girl was thrown off balance yet no trepidation flashed across her face as the servant went tumbling to the ground. Nebellia was artsy with her tug, Bree-Bear falling perfectly into the puddle and effectively creating a nice, flesh bridge to cross.

The scientist casually stepped upon the servant's body with nary a thought of consideration for the discomfort her heels were bringing, coming to a pause on the girl's back. "A pleasure to see you as well, Passion Fruit~" She purred, spreading her arms out and gesturing to the bodies behind her. "Are they not ab-so-lu-tely lovely~?" Her voice lilted in it's melodic way, controlled delight that was just on the edges of peaking. She winked at him as she skipped off of Bree-Bear, landing perfectly on her tiptoes and twirling over closer to the Captain.

"And of course Lexi-Pop would send a big, strong man like you to come and fetch us~" She said in a sardonic fashion, reaching up to pinch the cheek of the man. She knew he disliked it when she spoke to him as a child, but she could not help it! She pursed her lips and leaned in just a bit closer so that he could feel her breath tickle his neck. "You smell absolutely darling~ Such a unique visage...~!" The taunt carried with it a mocking undertone, a reminder. He was a sweetie when he controlled that flirtatiousness he possessed and honestly, it wasn't as if she picked on him all the time. But she did ever so like reminding him of the first and last time he had ever approached her. (Oh, does that come as a shock to you readers~? Come off it, this is Danny-Pants, of course he did.)

She drew back before he went on the mild offensive, batting her eyelashes at him. "Though I suppose if Sweetie-Pea has summoned us, it would be best not to keep him waiting any longer~! Besides, my samples will be ruined if I keep them out in the open too long..." She looked over her shoulder at Bree-Bear and winked. "Come now, up up, we have a King to see~" She released the slightest bit of laughter, golden eyes alit with her amusement. Heh! Tonight was much more fun than she had anticipated~

Brigitte's Code:
Brigitte Lebelle

Now if there was one thing Brigitte was know for it was her rock solid emotionlessness. Her face never betrayed the few and rare emotions that she felt. These emotions, mere fleeting things in her mind, were actually quite twisted. After spending such a long time as the personal slave to His Highness as well as having to deal with Nebellia's consistent abuse it made some sense that the mercury haired vampire would develop a well, a sense of masochism. Said masochism was indeed stemmed from Brigitte's warped views. Though she was but a servant, surely no one was told to do such things as she by His Highness. Brigitte slowly began to associate the pain inflicted on her as a sort of pleasure. So while being yanked onto the wet ground and walked upon by Nebellia in her dagger like heels, Brigitte felt a momentary flood of pleasure that shot through her veins like a fire, though it was quickly extinguished like a candle flame.

She lay on the ground as Nebellia engaged Daniel in conversation only due to the fact that the female vampire was still atop her. As soon as her feet stepped off Brigitte quickly got herself up. The entire front of her white wool coat was soaked with a dirty brown liquid as were her stockings. Brigitte simply tore the wet articles off her body and threw them behind her where they landed a few feet from Nebellia's "lovely" test subjects. Now clad in only a simple gray dress, ripped stockings and a pair of gray flats she looked like they had run into more trouble than had actually occurred. Brigitte turned around and grabbed the rope that was tied about the humans waists. As she began to pull one of them moaned, slowly gaining consciousness. Without a moments hesitation she bent down and pushed her fingers into his neck, hitting a pressure point in its center. The man stiffened and passed out, though his brief moment of consciousness would most likely be his last that wasn't filled with excruciating pain. "Poor creature." She murmured, her voice audible only to herself. Even Brigitte could feel a tiny flash of sympathy for whoever and whatever became subject to Nebellia's experiments.

Turning back around Brigitte caught the last bit of conversation between Nebellia and Daniel, though it mattered little to her. Her gaze trailed over to Daniel and rested on him, a cold and sharp look. She had no sense of humor nor a "real" sense of romance and so when the man had hit upon her (only once of course) she had simply stared at him, much like she was now, until he had turned away, most likely out of discomfort. "Car." She said, not even asking if he had one. Although a playboy Daniel did have a sharp mind and Brigitte knew that he would have chosen a vehicle capable of transporting the three of them and more back. Now that Daniel was there a large part of her brain was telling her to leave him to deal with the humans and Nebellia while she returned post haste however given the circumstances it would most likely be faster for her to return with them then by herself on foot.
Nebellia turned and gave Brigitte a wink along with another sing songy comment. Although not physically acknowledging the comment Brigitte did feel a stir in her gut. She was late, very late. Already she had realized this and yet every passing second they spent wasting away with useless chatter only made her all the more later. This thought burrowed deep into her head and made Brigitte go stiffer. She wasn't doing her duties right. She was failing as a servant. Giving a harsh tug on the rope Brigitte began to briskly make her way out of the alley, brushing past Daniel as she did so. She was easily able to pick up his scent trail and followed it over to a car that was, yes, this was the same car Nebellia had arrived in earlier. Brigitte pulled open the trunk, not caring that she was most likely breaking its lock system and began stuffing the bodies in there. Thankfully this vehicle had a large trunk lest she be forced to start breaking bones and such, most likely causing Nebellia to go into a fit. Slamming down the lid of the trunk Brigitte wiped her hands on her dress and tipped her head over her shoulder to see if Daniel and Nebellia were still in the alley or not.

"Must return quickly..." She whispered, looking up at the stars briefly. They were still a bit hard to see due to the city's light however she could make out a constellation here and there. A cold breeze blew through the street and washed across her face, bringing her out of her mind and back to the situation at hand. Her cheeks began to flush slightly, a sign she was growing impatient.

Sabine Marx


Sabine was in better spirits once the moment her nails dug into his wrists, which told him that the upper hand was completely his again. The move had most certainly been successful. Her wounded comment about having a nice smile especially amused him. Humans were so touchy about the strangest things, weren’t they? ”Du bist sehr goldig.” The faintest of grins curved his face as he tipped his head curiously, “Tell me you’re secret. How is it you are so knowledgeable about this man you’ve only met twice before? And both meetings were two years ago at that.” He paused for a second. “I suppose it gave you plenty of time to ponder your ever so accurate analysis of my innermost thoughts.” He untucked his arms, spreading his hands out in a slight shrug before folding them behind his back again. The crescent moons her fingernails had made on his skin were red and only just visible under his sleeves now. Funny, how she seemed bent on injuring him. She was lucky he felt no urge to reciprocate because she would come out worse for the wear from such a situation. He didn’t bother with being angry about it though, it meant she was on the offensive again and it was more fun to counter arguments than make his own. It seemed to elicit better responses when she had to defend herself. “The most amazing thing is that you can do it when you don’t even know who I am. “

When she told him to scoot off back home the grin turned into a smirk before vanishing back into a cool exterior. “Is that a dismissal, Lady Sapphire?” He took a few slow paces, making a half circle around her before bowing deliberately, never taking his eyes off her. “Forgive me; I’d forgotten that I was in the presence of the queen of San Diego.” She wouldn’t catch the subtleties of his words but it amused him and that was enough. Although, if he really wanted to he could tell her what he was, but she’d not believe him and it would be quite a hassle. What would the point of it be anyway? She was just a human, she required no knowledge of such things, and it probably wouldn’t change her attitude much. She’d seen him take down five men without losing his breath but she still didn’t realize that he was not one to mess with; nothing else would be likely to faze her.

“If you no longer desire my company why don’t you toddle off then Miss Parker? Unless you plan to make this square of street your new home I see no reason why I should obey your wishes.” He advanced a half step, dipping his chin slightly to meet her eyes. He could still feel the moment when she’d gasped and frozen morph to the one after he’d lifted her up and anger had set into her body. His actions had stopped her short, just as she’d done to him, but that wasn’t a warfare tactic he’d like to employ. Unless, of course, she thought to breach his boundaries first. If she thought to utilize such actions, however, he’d have to let her know that he was better at such things than she thought. A body learned things after a couple millenniums. Though he didn’t have any interest in such things at this point in his life, it hadn’t always been that way. But in his opinion such things would turn this game into a paltry excuse of an exchange, base and foolish. Though, the way her body had shivered ever so slightly at his touch had been almost intoxicating. A part of his wanted to see just how much he could affect her, steal more of those half escaped gasps and ever so slight quivers. But that was foolish. He should not think in such a way.

“I wanted to be gentlemanly and escort you wherever it is you’re headed, but then again that might not be the wisest plan, considering the last time I did something polite for you I lost my handkerchief and a jacket.” He mused, still staring at her. “I suppose we don’t always get what we want.” He’d left her alone after their last two encounters but this time it was her turn to walk away when she wanted to. She had approached him this time, didn’t she? That was not the only way this encounter had been different, but it was one. It was like a silly reversal of their first meeting; she’d noticed him and marched over to tell him off rather than the other way around. Though he’d had more tact, most certainly. She couldn’t just ignore him when he told her to go away and then think he’d break under her every whim. Silly humans, they thought the worlds revolved around them when they didn’t even know half of what the universe had to offer. It was almost laughable.

He wondered whether she’d actually turn and walk away or if they’d reached an impasse. She was a proud creature, for a human, she wasn’t the type to fall and comply and neither was he. Especially when she was perfectly angry, enough to elicit an interesting reaction but not enough for her to fall into actual rage. It was a careful line, he knew, and he’d minded it before, but sometimes a body had to take risks. Not that putting her off would be any kind of damage to him, of course. He didn’t care about her at all, obviously, it didn’t matter what she did. She was practically a stranger, and a human, completely meaningless in the grand scheme of his life, right? But he’d take what fun from her that he could; he wouldn’t leave such an interesting creature alone unless she evaded him. While she was amusing to talk to he had no interest in chasing her. That would mean that she would have control and that was clearly not the case.

---

Daniel Bowman

Along with the two women, there was a large bundle that smelled like blood. Made sense, Nebellia must have been out collecting samples without permission. No surprise. No surprise at all. He watched as Nebellia's target turned to him and she began to make her way over, tugging Brigitte over and walking across her in the process. The little ghost took so much from everyone above her, it seemed. Daniel didn't like it, she was too small and lovely to be treated in such a way, but the abuse had already occurred, what could he do to stop it. Nebellia didn't listen to him anyway. And Brigitte always seemed to get back up without another thought anyway, perhaps she didn't mind. "Wonderful." He agreed to whatever it was that Nebellia was saying. He'd left Alanya to deal with this. He was in no mood to indulge in a bit of play with Nebellia.

The woman advanced on him, cooing at him. It seemed she was always doing such things, and she always elicited different reactions, depending on his mood. Right now he was having none of it. Well, okay, maybe a little bit, he couldn't help that, but not much. He looked past the vampire immediately in front of him to see what Bridgette was doing, but Nebellia leaned in closer, her blood-saturated breath on his neck, and he could not see the ghost. When she pulled away Daniel pushed off the wall. Brigitte was staring at him with her cool blank eyes, and she uttered a single word. Car. Always the one track mind, she was. Nebellia made a sort of order towards the girl, but the ghost apparently ignored it, brushing by him as she made her way out of the alley.

Turning to Nebellia, Daniel reached out and clasped her hand. It would have been a friendly gesture, or even perhaps romantic, except that his grip would have crushed a human bone to powder. He sent a toothy smile over in the caramel-skinned woman’s direction. “You have something on your face, Lady Nebellia” He said, reached over with his other hand to wipe the blood away with his thumb. Before the blood could drip down his wrist he caught it with his tongue. Below the taste of Nebellia the original taste of the blood gave him the impression that Nebellia had frightened these humans a bit before knocking them out. My, didn’t she have such a way with the weaker species. He turned his eyes to the ghost, who seemed bent on making it back to the car, which wasn’t too far away. She was already cramming the humans into the trunk. “Looks like Miss Lebelle wishes to leave posthaste.” He noted, starting off towards the car and fishing the keys from his pocket. Brigitte had torn the trunk open, silly creature, she was so anxious to return to the king, it seemed.

As he moved nearer to the car his arm acted as a link, she wouldn’t be able to move away if she wished to. Daniel wasn’t taking any chances, and as a swordsman, among other things, he had an incredible grip, the kind that hold up a defense against enemies trying to knock his weapon from his hand. Brigitte looked over her shoulder at them as they neared, then looked to the sky. She really was agitated by this, wasn’t she. Well, they’d get a move on; the longer he took the more irritated his Majesty would surely be. He deposited Nebellia in the passenger seat and circled around to his own side. Brigitte required no urging to get in the car, no surprise.
“You know, my lady,” he said as he got into the car and slid the key into its port, kicking the engine to life, “you should be honored, I sacrificed an audience with the Princess to pick you and Miss Lebelle up.” Which was partially true, if one ignored the fact that he’d been ordered to find them and bring them home. He couldn’t be annoyed with Nebellia for long though, he wasn’t one to hold a grudge, and the woman could be extraordinarily fun, when she wasn’t pulling him away from his previous activities. He shifted to reverse and turned the car around with little regards to any human motorists in the growing night, then sped off back towards home. He was a bit of a reckless driver because he wasn’t too fond of driving, too many constraints and stupid humans, but he hadn’t wrecked a vehicle yet, though he couldn’t say the same thing about some of the panicked humans who’d encountered him on the road, but that was their fault not his, now wasn’t it.

Alexander chose to ignore the dissatisfied look on his daughter’s face, instead focusing the intense dominance of his gaze on the captain. They had been wrapped in each other’s arms until the second Daniel realized his king was in their presence. Alanya had paid him no such mind. Of course, though, he wasn’t too surprised with that. Unlike the captain, Alanya knew she was safe with him. He couldn’t exactly replace his beloved daughter. Daniel Bowman, however, was very replaceable.

Not that Alexander would rid himself of him merely for touching his daughter. No, Alexander was much too used to seeing his daughter with men, so that was not the problem. In fact, the king’s worries stemmed from the usual nature of Daniel’s “affections” towards women. Although he knew Alanya was a capable woman, who would not easily fall prey to such things, he was a father, and so he could not quite quell that little voice in the back of his head. No matter how old she grew, he feared it would never go away entirely.

And so, the expression on the king’s face was one of cold displeasure and disapproval, his eyes boring into the captain whom his daughter seemed so very fascinated with. Plus, it wasn’t like he was having the best of days to begin with. Simone wasn’t proving quite as easy to deal with as he’d hoped. Then again, he supposed she’d get used to her new life with time. Hell, she’d have to, because he wasn’t going back to the man he had been for the past two years. He wasn’t going back to being out of control, hungry all the time. He hadn’t been a happy king, and as such, his subjects had not been particularly pleased either.

When Daniel bowed, replying to the order Alexander had issued, the king inclined his head ever so slightly as if in acceptance, raising only an eyebrow when the man left his daughter with a peck on the cheek. Alanya, who had so far merely glared at her father, turned her scorching gaze towards the captain as he hurried off. Ah, but Alexander knew what was coming next. He couldn’t remember the last time his daughter had taken anything without a fight, king or no king. She was a tough thing. But then he supposed growing up without a mother did that to a princess.

Her amber eyes swung back to him as she turned, her body ever elegant and poised in spite of the irritation burning in her eyes. Of course, he knew she could disguise that well enough as well, but he assumed she didn’t particularly want to. “Father,” she then began, her melodic voice sounding clearly, her tone ever patient. He offered a wry smile, countering with “Alanya,” in the exact same tone, except his eyes were amused. She narrowed her eyes in response. “Could you not have sent another? Perhaps the second in command?” She asked him, obviously none too pleased with his choice.

Alexander sighed deeply, slightly frustrated with her at times like these. “You know few men can handle the Royal adviser.” He explained, watching the irritation disappear from her amber eyes, leaving cool indifference, “besides, Daniel is not here for you to play around with. He is here to serve and to protect. Do not forget that.” It was a soft reprimand, the only kind he ever dealt her. She pursed her lips, her pretty eyes scrutinizing him, as if evaluating which route to take. Apparently she thought it best not to argue so instead she let a soft gust of wind pass her lips, looking up at him, eyes slightly wider than usual. After all, she did know just how to play him. “Please consider,” she noted, “in these twilight hours, I am not yet able to leave the building, and I do grow so very bored.”

Alexander couldn’t help another faint smile to graze his lips, his eyes softening. “Darling, I am…” he started when a servant interrupted him, addressing him fearfully. He frowned, turning his eyes towards the smaller vampire. Alanya’s amber depths followed his green once. None of them were too pleased. Alexander raised an eyebrow. This had better important. The king did not like being interrupted. “What serves to grant you enough importance to interrupt me, little one?” He inquired, his voice and face completely cool and impassive.

“Apologies. She appears to be destroying the room…” The girl added lowly. Well, he hadn’t expected much else, but honestly, wasn’t destroying the room a little melodramatic? “And?” He noted, sensing the girl had more to add, and as she told him Simone had been making herself a stake, he laughed. Straight out laughed, the sound filled with humour. Alanya tilted her head, intrigued. Her full lips curved into a smile. “And who is… she?” The princess asked, looking to the servant who took a step back, fearing the princess and her whims, but she still glanced at the king, who seemed to be laughing continuously.

“Answer me,” she noted, her voice filled with warning. The servant looked at her own two feet. “The… the king brought her, your highness.” Alanya’s smile widened, the glint of mischievousness back in her amber eyes. “Did he now?” She said to herself. Alexander, however, straightened immediately, his laughter cut off at once. “Alanya,” he began, “she is not to be harmed.” The princess raised both eyebrows, pouting theatrically, “aw, but why not?”

The king shook his head. “Because I have ordered it to be so. Do not test me on this one, Naya.” As he uttered the nickname her mother had once given her, he turned to the servant, speaking more before Alanya could reply. “Do not interrupt me with such trivial matters ever again.” He told her sternly, the warning clear as day, “Have the slaves clean up the room the second I remove her.” Then he glanced at Alanya. “I mean it, Alanya. Do not touch this one.” The look on her face became thoughtful.

That was the last words he uttered before leaving the room, heading back to the human he had left. Ruining rooms and fashioning stakes now, was she? Interesting. Human were such odd creatures at times, thinking they could ever know anything about his race. Thinking vampires did not even exist. Such obvious stupidity. On the note of foolishness, he wondered when Daniel would return with the two women. If he did not hurry, Alexander feared he would grow a little impatient. As it was, he could easily wait, not that he’d ever accept their tardiness, oh no. And ah, Nebellia had left against direct orders. That was the only thing that truly irked him in this.

The servant trailed after him dutifully as he merely opened the door the second he reached it, spotting Simone in an instant among the rubble. Vampiric speed brought him to her in no time, leaving her no time to react as he bent back her one wrist, loosening her grip, thereby letting the piece of wood fall to the ground. He kept his hand right there on her wrist, fingers wrapped tightly yet not hurtfully around her frail limb, keeping her in place. “You know, Simone,” he began on a purr, slightly amused with her still, “if you did not like the room, you could have just said so.”

Nebellia de Rozeriem

So firm, so utterly firm and commanding! Just as she'd expect from Danny Pants~ He was being curt with her tonight as he led her to the car, not relinquishing his iron grip upon her as he pulled her there. Nebellia didn't put up much of a fight, there was little point to her lingering around in some alleyway when she already had what she came for! The little Bree Bear was already sliding into the backseat, the reddish hue of her cheeks indicating some irritation. The scientist was pushed into the front seat and he went around, sliding into his. He spoke in a flatter tone than before as he offhandedly told her how honored she should feel. Oh! He was so cute when he was annoyed, wasn't he? She chuckled lightly into her fingers but didn't comment much as she turned her attentions out the window.

There was a scream from behind them and several more yells as the car reared into a few humans on their humming scooter bike things. Danny Pants wasn't paying much heed as he just shifted gears, raising the speed to what she would perceive to be a mildly unsafe level. (To normal people, this exceeded speed limits to very dangerous degrees) The car swerved a lot, nearly hitting many pedestrians and coming very close to hitting other vehicles. He knew how to give her a thrill, that was for sure! Nebellia lowered the window, poking her head out and grinning wildly in the night, violet hair ruffling in the wind. Ahhhh, this feeling, it was so refreshing! She leaned out of the window more, propping her hands against the bottom edges of the window frame. Some passerby in the cars looked shocked to see her and she only waved at them, energetically. Okay, maybe she also let her fangs show a bit, only to scare them!

This only worked to terrify them so much that one of the cars veered off the road and collided with another in a deafening screech of metal. Nebellia laughed happily, ohhh, this night was just so wonderful! Ah, but she didn't want to get on Danny Pants' super bad side since he'd be reporting back to Lexi-Pop. Dearest Sweetie Pea was probably all tense and worried and being overall silly. And probably being all "cooooool"" about it and "smoooooth". She giggled at her mental image of the man (which will not be included to spare us from potentially mind-scarring images with puffy shorts and overly dramatic capes) and drew herself back inside of the vehicle as she caught sight of the familiar mansion. There were a few more guards stationed on the outside than usual, all of whom tensed as the car drew to a halt. Was this her greeting party? Excellent~

Without waiting for Danny Pants to get out of the car or even for Bree Bear to unload her experiments, Nebellia was already jumping out the window to land on top of a screaming guard. She bounced a bit on top of him, the man making funny wheezing noises each time her weight descended on his chest before she cartwheeled off of him. The other guards were a little too scared to make moves at her and she pushed open the doors without much hindrance at all. She heard a terrified gasp and a squeak as nearby servants fled from the vicinity. That was no fun! She had already gotten her toys... for the night... Ahem~ Ah, wasn't she supposed to be going to the King or something? She was pretty sure he had summoned her.

Twirling a little with childish joy, she lightly made her way down the hall, rounding the corner. Her gold eyes spotted one of the maids from the kitchen and in a flourish of lace, Nebellia had the woman in a choke hold. "Why hello there~" She murmured faintly, the maid nearly fainting on the spot. "I heard the king summoned me~?" The maid trembled, trying to breathe but failing partially at the act.

"Y... y... yes, Mi..ss... Nebel... lia...!" She gasped out, fighting against the hold. Nebellia paid her no heed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, what are you waiting for? You don't see him meandering the halls like a dolt, do you?" The maid nodded tensely and the scientist let the woman go. She sputtered and fell to the floor gasping and panting, taking a few minutes to catch her breath. The maid knew better than to try to run from the infamous insane vampire and resigned herself to the task of leading the woman towards the faint commotion. The poor maid already knew that she was going to get in trouble for even involving herself in such matters but she couldn't disobey a direct order. Sometimes, life in the vampiric mansion was very difficult indeed for the working staff.

---

---

Garreth Vilhei Frost

There were rare moments when even Garreth could be surprised, and this moment just happened to be one of them. Slowly his eyebrows raised just a fraction of an inch as the woman before him gave a concession to his words. The tiniest concession she could possibly bear, mind, but the way in which her body relented it's offensive stance spoke volumes to him. Her voice was just a tad smaller than it had been as she explained to him precisely who this Simone girl was to her. She rambled a little as she spoke of her sister, voice hitching just slightly with that touch of nervousness. There was a pause, ah, questioning herself. He only smiled perhaps a little more warmly at her as he waited for her to finish. Whether she took some sort of comfort from this or not, she continued on.

Ninth and Lex, yes, he knew the place. Blue's Pub, he believed it was called. He had never specifically gone in, per se, but he knew the area. Her eyebrows knitted together, there was a short fumble before she forced out a request. ”I need to get there, somehow. If you can help me, I would appreciate it very much.””I need to get there, somehow. If you can help me, I would appreciate it very much.” She eyed him warily as she finished, as if expecting him to laugh at her or merely walk out on her. But Garreth was a man of his word and he did have every intention of providing assistance. It wasn't like him to leave a lady in a plight after all.

Very carefully, he reached over and delicately took her hand in his. Before there could be any objection, he lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed the back of her palm. He held her gaze throughout, silver eyes piercing into hers before lowering her hand from his grip. "As you wish, Miss Parker." This was an interesting mood he was in but he was the type to merely flow with it instead of trying to fight against it. Giving her a once over to make sure she had all her belongings, he proceeded down the stairs at a relaxed pace to give her time to follow him properly. He couldn't help but wonder, however, if she truly did not have any other options besides him. She had always struck him as so proud and someone who didn't exactly enjoy asking for help in the first place, let alone from someone she barely knew. Still, circumstances had allowed just that and he wasn't about to question them.

They reached the bottom floor and he walked ahead of her a bit, opening the library doors for her. "After you," He said, a kind glint in his eyes for once. He was a gentleman first and there was not a soul who could say he did not know how to treat a lady when he was inclined to do so. Making sure she was through the door safely, he shut it behind him and gestured to her. "This way, I parked down the street." He said smoothly as he walked down the sidewalk. They reached his car within a minute or so, Garreth sliding his hand into his pocket to retrieve the keys to his Ferrari. He unlocked the doors, walking first over to the passenger side to open her door for her. It wasn't as if he thought her incapable, this was just his way of showing chivalry. After helping her into the car, he went around, sliding into the driver's side.

He flashed her one of his warmer smiles and without a word, shifted gears and headed towards the club.

Sapphire had a faint feeling that this guy was going to end up driving her absolutely insane. She’d never before thought that of someone, because honestly she had this tendency to leave people who irritated her this way, yet she didn’t particularly wish to leave Sabine. At the same time, however, she’d tried, hadn’t she? Half-hearted as it had been, she had tried, so really, all of this was his fault. Yes of course. He was the one who kept following her when she attempted to walk away from him. Now, she couldn’t possibly be blamed for his oddities. Exactly. She didn’t really want to be there, and she didn’t enjoy his company in the least… it was all because he refused to stop following her around. All him.

As he condescendingly tried to throw her off of her ideas and thoughts of him, Sapphire raised an eyebrow. This only served to prove her point further, did it not? Obviously this was a man who did not like being figured out; this much was rather apparent, which meant that were she right, he would refuse and try to make her seem silly and dumb for even suggesting it, whereas if she was wrong, he would be much more lighthearted about it. Perhaps even play along and let her think whatever she wanted. But no, Sabine had seemed bothered by her words. So despite his way of talking to her, Sapphire simply stood there, brightly blue eyes looking up at him skeptically. After all, she wanted him to know that she did not buy his bullshit.

As he finally finished his little attempted dissuasion speech, Sapphire tapped her right index finger gently against her bottom lip, looking up at him, her irritation briefly forgotten with her realization. This all proved her thought. Without knowing it, Sabine was revealing himself to her. Interesting. A slight glint of amusement sparkled in her gaze, yet her expression was theatrically thoughtful – a purposeful act, mean to be seen through. “My my,” she began, her voice lilting just a little. “Aren’t you on the defensive?” It was an observation and nothing else; a rhetorical question in every way. In spite of the odd game right now, Sapphire wasn’t about to stand around here all night. Nor did she have much patience left and it seemed this man was rather adamant regarding his little quest to irk her.

And so, Sapphire told him to scoot off, suspecting he’d merely follow if she began walking first; after all, he had shown nothing else so far. Ah, and yep, the irritation was back. The second he opened his mouth, sarcasm spilling forth in hordes, Sapphire rolled her eyes at him, not giving him the pleasure of seeing her dance to his flute, so to speak, which meant she stood still, not even following him with her gaze as he circled her. Arrogant prick. Her lips pursed slightly as he spoke, but she said nothing. Instead she waited for him to move back to actually facing her, which surprisingly happened rather quickly. He even took a step back towards her, bowing down his head a bit to look her in the eyes. Her sapphire depths were alight with the fire of her soul as she stared right back at him.

“Well,” she then finally said once he’d told her to ‘toddle off’, “So far I’ve found that you refuse to leave me be when I do ‘toddle off’, so I figured perhaps I would be able to get rid of you if you left me.” She said the words harder than she meant them. That was a rather defining trait of the blonde woman. If she had to be honest with herself – and she most times preferred to be – she did actually like being around him. She liked the sexy purr of his voice, and his touch had been electric. She’d never experienced anything like it and part of her wanted to explore where that could go… yet another part of her wrote it off as impossible because he was, well… him. He was impossibly arrogant and with a deluded sense of self-importance.

She was fairly certain that would never work out. Besides, they’d hardly had a civil conversation. And she didn’t like him. She was merely oddly attracted to him. “I wanted to be gentlemanly and escort you wherever it is you’re headed, but then again that might not be the wisest plan, considering the last time I did something polite for you I lost my handkerchief and a jacket. I suppose we don’t always get what we want.” He then said, making it sound as though he was the victim here. She snorted, dryly amused. “Oh, yeah, sure, you’re such a victim here. Poor little Sabine. I didn’t want you to follow me anywhere, remember? Besides, if you’d only showed up sometime in between then and now – you know, those two years – you’d have been able to get both your jacket and handkerchief back.” She said coolly, narrowing her eyes as she continued to stare back at him.

“But you didn’t, and really, why should I hold on to your things? You showed your priorities in disappearing for two years. I showed you mine by throwing your shit out. Deal with it.”

---

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Alexander’s feet moved only slightly and more or less by instinct when she began fidgeting, trying to stomp her heels into his shoe-clad toes. It wasn’t that it would hurt him, but having been at war for the entirety of his life, Alexander’s body had learned to react instinctively whenever a move was made against him. Of course, with Simone being human, Alexander didn’t need this right now. After all, she was much smaller, much weaker, much less trained, and hell, Alexander had battled both Lykae and Demon, coming out the winner. Well, that was obvious since he was still alive. It meant that she was even less than no challenge. He almost felt embarrassed on her behalf. Silly human.

She could hear her heartbeat speeding up as he held her wrist, watching the bared side of her neck pulsating happily. Odd; he was entirely full, yet her throat looked so very inviting. Perhaps he was truly addicted. Hmm. Blood-addicts were dangerous vampires to have around humans. He had not brought a single, and honestly he killed them instantly. They were a danger to have on earth and he had enough trouble controlling Nebellia. Hell, they were even a danger to have around back home. They would kill another’s slave because they lacked control. Any person without control was dangerous, but it was much more so with a vampire. After all, a vampire’s life force had to come from living creatures. Humans, to be exact.

Alexander was completely calm while he was with Simone, however. He didn’t feel the blood lust. The only thing really drawing him towards her blood was the memory of the divine taste, and he could deny himself that pleasure easily enough. Even as she spoke, he only lazily let green eyes graze the guard watching them. Then he suddenly chuckled, shaking his head. “Prison?” He asked her, almost an innocent touch to his tone of voice. “Oh no. Prison is not a place for lovely little things like you.” He meant that. His prisons were not places anyone wanted to spend any time. Alexander liked to make punishments the worst they could be.

The small prison situated in this earthly mansion was situated in the basement. It was all rocks and metal, dark and damp. It was a cold, hard place; just the way he wanted it. A perfect place for criminals and traitors to rot. That was when a smirk spread on the face of his guard and Alexander felt Simone tense even more. As a result, Alexander raised a single eyebrow at the guard expectantly. His grin fell and he hurriedly moved out of sight as the king turned his new human around, placing a firm yet gentle arm around her waist, releasing her wrist. He was smiling wryly himself, watching her.

Her words, however, caused the smile to disappear and his eyes to harden as he looked down into her eyes. “You should not make threats like that,” he then said coolly, “I have told you; all I want from you is your blood. Nothing else. I see no reason for you to be so melodramatic.” Then his smirk was back and he leaned in, his breath tingling upon her skin as he whispered huskily into her ear, “It is not like you do not like it.” Then he moved back a little, his free hand moving up to caress the side of her neck where he had bitten her, then dancing down her collarbone, leaving a trail of fire behind. His eyes had turned darker, hooded intensely.

Then he straightened suddenly, breaking the connection as he tilted his head. Nebellia was back. So were Brigitte and Captain Bowman. Well that meant he would have to leave this little flower of his… while she was bleeding. Oh, wait, was that the scent of blood from the outside. He sighed slightly. As brilliant as she was, Nebellia was a burden unlike any other. She’d disobeyed so many of his orders in only one night. Of course, knowing her, that had hardly crossed her mind. Then he looked back at Simone thoughtfully. “Unless you would like to be killed by vampires in this place, you might want to limit the bleeding. And clean yourself up.” He then lifted her up bridal-style, one hand on her back

The king did not take a second to wonder who was where and who did what. Instead he merely said “follow” as he passed the guards along with Sarai. His speed was incredible as he made it through the house, not caring one bit that Simone would most likely end up rather confused. As he entered his own chambers, he placed her on the sofa in the living room connected to his bedroom. His rooms were a bit more modern. Alexander had taken to some of the more clean-cut styles and surfaces of this decade, yet many rooms of the house had not been renovated for many years. He hadn’t cared to. After all, they were either used by servants/slaves or not utilized at all.

He stood only for a short while before the first guard showed up, followed by the other and then the younger Sarai. “She does not leave your sight,” he told them all once they stood straight in front of him. He glanced briefly at the bloody human before putting a cold set of eyes on the three vampires. “I want her protected from anything and anyone – herself included. She is off limits. You will stay within my chambers to properly watch her.” He then looked upon Sarai, addressing her. “Little one, you are the only one allowed to invade her privacy. You will accompany her everywhere and you will make sure she is bathed and presentable. You will tend to these self-inflicted wounds of hers, and you will be held responsible should she not be properly nourished or hydrated.”

Then he paused briefly, his piercing green eyes taking in all of them once more before finally adding, “she is not allowed to leave my chambers. Understand?” Through all of this, the king had completely ignored Simone's presence, except to glance at her, making sure she stayed put. His chambers were the best place for her to be right now, considering her bleeding. It would mark her as his property personally and tell everyone that she was off limits.

Brigitte Lebelle

As was her tendency Nebellia had spun off like a twister into the mansion, leaving an inevitable wake of disaster and fear behind her. Brigitte simply took it in with a quick look then got herself out of the car. She really needed to see His Highness now but if Nebellia's toys were left outside it would surely cause a problem that would be preferably avoided. The flush of her cheeks dimming only a little she got to work hauling the bodies out of the now blood spattered car, taking very little care of whether or not the humans were harmed or not. At this point, as long as they were still able to wake up, it didn't matter how bruised they were. Nebellia had a mansion full of replacements. The bodies landed together with a heavy thud on the loose gravel driveway. Dragging them would only cut up the skin and make more blood flow. Foreseeing this Brigitte curled her middle and index finger together and jerked them at two guards who had been trying to help their trampled comrade.

"Lab." She ordered them. Even though it was common trait of hers to only say one word, everyone in His Highness's service new what it meant. Take the bodies to Nebellia's "laboratory" and no touching. The two vampires exchanged glances between themselves, torn between helping their comrade or risking their lives to drop off the bodies. Brigitte's face began to heat up and she walked over and grabbed the two by the scruff of their collars. "Lab." She commanded again. In all honesty, it was hard to resist her order due to the fact that she sounded like a worried mother scolding a child. The two guards gulped down their fear of their inevitable fates and went to retrieve the bodies from behind the car, leaving the other guards to deal with the one Nebellia had danced upon so carelessly.

That all her orders pertaining to Nebellia had been taken care of left Brigitte breathing a small sigh of relief. Her face returned to its normal ghostly complexion and her back straightened out. Striding through the gates she left Daniel to deal with the car and rest, much like Nebellia just had. He was capable of getting everything outside cleaned up and would probably see to either killing the fallen guard or getting him some treatment. None of these thoughts really mattered to Brigitte as she continued up and into the mansion, gliding through the halls as if she were indeed a specter. Though she was His Highness's personal servant many of the other servants and slaves that were employed could all feel a weight lift off their shoulders as she returned. Having her around meant less actual interactions with those they served and perhaps a tad less, unnecessary deaths or accidents.

At this point Brigitte's hair was almost completely out of its braid as she walked tendrils of it flowed out around her. This was actually quite a bothersome thing for the vampire as she preferred to have her mercury colored locks in a neat braid so as she passed a mirror in the hall Brigitte threw her hair back in order with an ease that would make many a hairstylist cry with joy. Deciding she was going to be as presentable as possible on such short notice Brigitte continued on her way, following the scent of His Highness, one she knew by heart and could pick out at least a mile away.

According to her nose he had been in a guest room recently but had traversed from there to his quarters with...yes that was the human woman's scent. It was heavier than the others, save His Highness's meaning that she was most likely bleeding. A corner of Brigitte's mouth twitched downwards but it did so far too fast for anyone to see. His Highness was never messy, like some people, with his meals. That the human woman he had gone to such great lengths to secure was bleeding at such a noticeable rate did cause Brigitte to falter a step, but only a step. Whatever the reason, His Highness no doubt had it under control.

As she passed the kitchen Brigitte heard Nebellia's unmistakable voice and the reply of some servant or other. At least she was trying to get to His Highness, rather than run off to play. Brigitte contemplated offering to just escort Nebellia to His Highness however the vampire had already caused her enough delay as it was so she shook the notion off and passed by the kitchen without a look. His Highness's scent began to grow thicker, as did the human woman's and a few other vampires-- most likely servants or guards. She trailed the mix of scents around a corner or two more and then finally arrived at His Highness's private chambers. His door was opened but as Brigitte took a step forward His Highness stepped out of his room. His clothes were covered in unmistakable blood that reeked of the human woman. A servant began to follow him out however he gave her orders to stay and tend to the human. Two guards stood posted outside the door, their faces blank masks. As soon as His Highness's head turned towards Brigitte she dropped to one knee and locked her eyes on the floor. "Master."

Sabine Marx

She didn't believe him. That was obvious by her sardonic, rhetorical response. She didn't want to even contemplate that she could be wrong, obviously. Prideful human. But she could think what she wanted. Trying to persuade her otherwise would most likely end in meeting deaf ears, but he'd have to stick to correcting her when she decided to become overbold and overstep her bounds. A firm hand was a good defense against small bits of impudence. Patience had more of a shot at prevalence than becoming annoyed would. She could have it for now though. It wasn't hurting him after all. She was merely a human. She could entertain whatever thoughts she wished. And maybe it was high time he turned that tool on her. They would see how she liked it.

Her hard response to his return made him tip his head slightly, eyebrow lifting. "All you have to do is ask, Miss Parker. I have not heard the words 'Do not follow me' cross your lips in this conversation. And you know they would work, I respected your wishes well enough the last two times we met, did I not?" Which was true enough. Her body language and her sharp jabs might have told enough that she wished to be left alone, but there was more to it than that. If she really wished to be left alone she'd have to say it.

She'd been sending some mixed signals anyway, namely that moment when she'd been much to close for comfort. Did she think she was playing some kind of complicated game with him? Well, it was falling rather flat if she was. Or perhaps she was as confused as she was making him out to be. That would make sense enough. She was a human, after all. She probably had no idea what was going through her head.

Her next words were just as hard, though her face was cold. She was obviously hurt by his disappearance. Humans were so self centered. As if his life was dictated by her needs. "I told you I had other business to attend to." He said, dismissing her words with a slight wave. "Traveling here from my more permanent residence isn't as easy as clicking my fingers, Sapphire." His voice was slightly admonishing as he continued, casting his eyes towards the sky for a brief moment to check the time. "Two years isn't even that long, honestly. Usually vacations find themselves short and far between. Anyway, you didn't even have to think about it, Liebchen, you could have just put them in a box and forgotten about the whole thing until my return." His eyes landed back on hers again, his face impassive. "Unless you cared that much. Why are you so hurt that I didn't return to you sooner? Did you think I'd forgotten about you? And that made you so angry that you had to take some foolish revenge and 'get me back'?"

Sabine sighed, his face still cool as he looked down at her. He was returning her attack quietly. Her reactions would tell him if he'd hit the mark. "It might surprise you, Miss Parker, but I do have a job in my homeland, and a responsibility to that job, no matter how much I'd like to stroll in the sun and argue with fiery young women in this city, and if I don't do that job when it calls me the results would not be pleasant for me." It was a bit of an understatement, but it served its purpose.

His duties to his people were more than his job though, they were his life. Mostly because he'd certainly die if one of the other species took his kingdom, and if he was gone for too long the people would become discontent and less likely to fight for him. He ruled his country primarily through fear, he knew that his people did not love him, he did not expect them to. They were a coalition held because it benefited them and if he no longer provided that benefit they would turn to more nomadic tendencies, as they had far in the past. Then one of the other powers would have a clear path to cut towards taking his kingdom. Sapphire wouldn't understand such things though, she lived in a tiny world free of such suffering and weight. She was a human in a first world country. There would be no use in explaining to her the gravity of his existence.

He wasn't going to mention that he'd desired to return the moment he'd left, and if it hadn't been for certain problems in the war and other management issues he'd had to take care of, especially within his own guard, he would have returned sooner. Her presence, while it was tense and somewhat hostile, was relaxing, in a way. As if things were as they should be. And she was such a curious creature. So very interesting. She was a human like he'd never encountered before. So very entertaining to speak with. And she treated him with such disregard. He couldn't find such a conversation partner anywhere else. His subjects treated him with care, like a ticking bomb, as they should. If they didn't treat him as such he'd have to teach them how they should act. But he had no urge to push Sapphire down where she belonged. That would ruin her. Scare her off. And somehow the thought of that was terrible, though Sabine could not exactly pinpoint why frightening her away would be so bad. Another one of those elusive mysteries that were better left alone.

---

Daniel Bowman

The sharp breeze from Nebellia's opened window prodded at Daniel's face, making him take his eyes off the road to see what she was doing. She had her head stuck out the window and she was waving at the humans in a vehicle they were currently tearing past. Evidently she'd frightened them because the sound of tearing metal could be heard in the wake of Daniel's path of destruction through the city. He quirked a slight grin. She was a strange bird, that was for sure. He cared little for the pedestrians either way, but she seemed to enjoy scaring them to death. Literally. He wouldn't partake in such things, well, other than directing his car at screaming speeds through the city, but it was rather amusing to watch Nebellia frighten the little sheep. She was bad for the human population, but then again, Daniel wasn't much better for it. If he was in a better mood they might have wreaked complete and utter destruction on the poor human city. But returning home was the priority at the moment.

When he slid to a halt in front of the manor the guards all turned their heads to look at them, standing at attention. Then Nebellia leaped like a deranged lioness at one of the greener men, who didn't have the sense to dodge her. She knocked him over and continued crushing his ribcage a bit before shooting off into the manor. The other guards rushed to help him as Daniel put Nebellia's window back up and exited the car. Bridgette was unloading the humans from the trunk. He watched her interestedly for a moment, the smell of blood teasing him. He'd have to find someone decent later, but now was not the time. As the little ghost approached the guards, who were still peering down at their partner, unsure of how to help him. One of them glanced up at him and Daniel issued the man a withering look, suddenly serious. He'd really have to teach these men how to deal with injuries off the field. Stupid boys. Then Brigitte grabbed them both by the front of their uniforms they both looked a bit surprised. They eventually complied and as they passed him Daniel clapped on of them on the shoulder. "Be swift. I'll take care of him." That didn't do much to reassure the two, but they hefted the humans up and carried them into the manor. Brigitte was gone as well, off to find her King.

Daniel strolled over to the guard, who was still wheezing on the ground, and stood over him for a moment, cool blue eyes silent. The man, who's face was a bit ruddy and his eyes a bit bugged out still, stared back. They held eye contact for a moment, then Daniel bent and grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him to his feet. "There's a good lad. Be more careful next time, brother, you're no use to me when your broken." he admonished as he steadied the the vampire, who still looked a bit deflated. She'd broken a couple of his ribs, it seemed. He'd be out of service for a little, but he'd heal quickly enough. "Send a replacement up and from tomorrow on you're on mess duty." Daniel said, pulling the keys out of pocket. "And put this car back where it belongs while your at it and send a servant to clean it up." The guard didn't look to pleased as he limped towards the car, keys clamped in one hand. Perhaps he should send Nebellia to help them practice their drills. That would probably scare them more than he did. Teach them how to react quicker as well.

Daniel strolled into the castle unhurriedly. Brigitte and Nebellia had most likely already found audience with the king and he should probably hurry to report with haste, but really he'd already done his job, he'd found them, hadn't he? But it was part of his job. He followed Brigitte's scent, she was the most reliable to follow. As the trail became more chaotic, other vampires joining it, including his Majesty's and a human's, Daniel knew he was close. Hopefully His Majesty had nothing else for him to do. He really did need to finish his letter today. And a single annoyingly mindless task was enough for one evening.

Nebellia de Rozeriem

The maid was so very eager to drop Nebellia off in the presence of the King before literally running away as fast as she could do so while still being polite. Whatever was about to go down, the maid did not want to be one of the casualties. The scientist watched her scamper off blankly, for once not giving way to her whims of pursuit. And scalpels. Those were very very nice too. Brigitte had already dropped to her knee, not daring to look into the eyes of the man they called their King. Her whisper of Master reminded Nebellia of another instance that word had been used in... But now was not the time for musings. She could sense the displeasure of Alexander very clearly. It was a difficult aura to miss and he had the tendency to radiate it outwards. Sadly, she would have to do away with her fun for the night. He was a man who disliked rules being broken, and she had taken many liberties and broken quite a few tonight. It was going to be a bit of work talking her way out of this one...

Still, she followed suit, knowing better than to push her luck and curtsied quite elegantly. Even with her blood stained dress and mild tears in her stockings, it was obvious she was a proper lady... at least when she took out the time to show it. She lowered her lashes over her golden eyes, not risking direct eye contact for a full minute or so in order to show her proper respect to him. She released her breath out slowly and the woman that came to regard Alexander was dramatically different from the woman that had been terrorizing the humans just an hour earlier. She kept her stare very even and spoke in an unfaltering voice, devoid of the musical, whimsical nature she usually portrayed.

"Allow me this small imposition to take the time to apologize to you, my King," She began, pursing her lips slightly and wrinkling her nose. He carried a very strong scent with him, one that most certainly belonged to a human. Obviously not one that she had brought with her tonight, no, it was older than that and possessed a feminine tang. Alexander wasn't the type to just flat out reveal things right off the bat so she'd have to dance around this one carefully. "As you are no doubt aware, I've acted... a tad out of term," She managed a light chuckle. They both knew there was no such thing as a "tad" with her. She either went the whole way or didn't go at all but Nebellia wasn't a woman to stop halfway through anything. In some circles, perhaps this could be regarded as going too "far" but she had long since disregarded such statements.

"I assure you none of the staff has been harmed beyond repair, though perhaps I could've gone about it in a less zealous manner to retrieve test subjects." It may be a bit safer, in this situation, to admit she had been in slight wrong than to try to find reasons for it. Alexander hated excuses. "If you feel that I was out of term for leaving without your behest, you are welcome to do as you will. I will draw to your attention, however," She took a brief pause as she heard approaching footsteps, no doubt the Captain coming to make his presence known as well. Best to wrap this up quickly. "Your Majesty, that I did not have any samples about and that is a tricky situation to be in with a mansion full of vampires. Unless you have found a way to satiate your hunger, then can I be faulted for naturally thinking to restock?" She curtsied again but did not remove her stare from his this time. Nebellia could never be marked as one afraid of Alexander's decisions and she was always prepared to meet them head-on if necessary.

---

Garreth Vilhei Frost

Hmm, the blush that coated her cheeks was a very welcome sight indeed. Even while she sat in stubborn silence in the seat next to him, lost in her own thoughts. Well, almost. She had noticed his smile, for she turned from it with a sigh, forehead nearly leaning against the window. She was evidently growing strained from her this nightly escapade, a faint realization that could only make him chuckle. The night was still so young and already she was this tired? A shame but nothing he couldn't take care of in the manner he did most things. He pulled up slowly in front of the club, the music already audible even from inside of the car. The young woman stepped out of the vehicle quickly, making it clear that she did not want or acquire assistance. He had to stifle another light laugh at her behavior, so proud, such a need to prove she was independent. He noticed she did, however, choose to wait until he had walked over to her side of the car before proceeding into the club.

However, he paused at the entrance briefly, immediately tensing as a very... familiar type of scent washed over his senses. His jaw tightened and the amusement faded just a portion. Perhaps it was a bit too early to be making such snap judgements, perhaps they had only wandered nearby... Garreth knew this was a bit of a long shot and this suspicion was only proved true the instant he entered into the building. Agh, that stench. He pinched the bridge of his nose with two of his fingers as a glimmer of disgust flitted across his face for an instant. His eyebrow furrowed a bit as he watched her make her way through the crowd, oblivious to what had been here just moments ago. The mere smell was going to leave a sour taste in his mouth, ugh. The human woman called faintly over her shoulder, though at such a volume that would've normally been audible, given the atmosphere. However, his keen hearing picked up right on it and he did not hesitate in moving closer to her, grabbing her arm somewhat firmly.

"Then let's not waste time out here in the middle of this... primal mating," He said curtly as he led her through the throng of people. He wrinkled his nose, how was it that everyone here had that scent with them? Leave it to the parasites to lay their fingers on everything. Was their anything they wouldn't sink their fangs into? Still, if he was picking up this irritating scent and Sydney had told him something of her sister being in this very vicinity... Still, assuming was not always the smartest choice and it was never a good idea to merely throw ideas together to feed his own personal bias. (Though privately, he was apt to do just that) The humans continued to dance, oblivious to what was transpiring and, more importantly, what had transpired. If the vampires really had been here earlier, then it would be lucky to find one human that remembered the events that had occurred. That stupid thralling ability really grated on his nerves at intervals.

As they approached the back, he let go of her gently, though he did not make any efforts to hide how tense he felt in this atmosphere. As far as he could tell, they were here no longer so she would be safe enough going to see the owner by herself. "Go on," He said somewhat distantly. He slid his hands into his pockets as he observed the mindless humans in the club closely, no longer paying her any attention. He stared out at them, mind circulating with faint deductions. He glanced at the dance floor, noticing a few flecks of blood here and there. Well covered up, for the most part, and no one was paying it any mind. But the scuff marks indicated that there had been some sort of rowdy activity that took place, and the odd lighting he had witnessed with the sign on the outside brought up another line of thinking. The way it was positioned was almost as if pointing to the alleyway on the outside...

He looked behind him--she didn't seem as if she'd be coming out anytime soon. There should be enough time. He turned on his heel, walking around the crowded areas, this time headed towards the side door. As soon as he stepped out, the smell only increased and he narrowed his eyes in distaste. It didn't matter how many years went by, the smell of vampires was still utterly revolting. He slid his silver eyes first to the ground, which was streaked with now dried blood, not much, but it was evident something had been dragged along roughly. There wasn't a lot of detail to go by, the parasites had a tendency to clean up after themselves well enough. He sighed out. He had been looking for entertainment, true, and he'd be misleading if he said he was bored by all of this. But by no means had Garreth expected... hm. It wouldn't do good to linger out here for long, Sydney would wonder where he had gone off to.

He edged back inside, shutting the door behind him but choosing instead to walk out to the entrance. If anything, it would make sense to greet her there instead of trying to find her in that club. Besides, the fresh air would do his sinuses some good. That bloody stench wouldn't be going away any time soon.

“Wait a second! She is not---" Simone attempted to interrupt, causing Alexander to send her a chilling look, his eyes hard and commanding. Instantly she cut off her sentence and he moved his piercing green eyes back to his guards and the smaller servant. “She is not allowed to leave my chambers. Understand?” He told them firmly, not caring one bit that Simone was looking quite outraged behind him. His patience with her was starting to wear itself down. She had actually interrupted him! No one did that, and he didn’t like the fact that she thought herself worthy of doing so. Not even his daughter dared interrupt him.

He noted them all nodding, the guards bowing deeply to indicate that they did indeed take this burden upon them. Sarai, the little servant, curtsied as well. Alexander nodded once, taking a step towards the door before Simone’s voice rang out behind him. The king stopped immediately, turning towards her instantly. If she did not stop calling this place a prison, he would show her exactly what prison was! Maybe then she would recognize the kindness he was showing her! If he had to be perfectly honest with himself though, he probably wouldn’t keep her there long enough for her to learn anything. He didn’t like spending time there himself, and he couldn’t keep an eye on her the same way.

Plus, all of his guards had access to the cells down there. Then again, maybe she needed to experience that; maybe she needed to feel the bite of another, the ferocity with which most other vampires fed. Yes, that would indeed do wonders for her attitude, would it not? Yet the thought of another feeding on this woman, was appalling to him for some reason. Alexander had truly enough never liked sharing, but he hardly cared when it came to humans. Normally. But with Simone the mere imaginary image of it was enough to make his considerable amount of muscle mass clench.

He watched quietly as she moved to throw the bloodied piece of fabric she’d had around her deepest wound at him. He narrowed his eyes then, green depths uncharacteristically angry. This level of impertinence would not do. Especially not in front of staff. Now he was genuinely angry with her, needing to show her the power he had. Needing to make her realize how incredibly wrong she was to think she had any rights here.

The king moved to her in an instance, stopping only a hair’s width away from her, moving his head to stare down at her. His right hand was rapidly brought to her chin, holding it to force her face to his, her eyes to his. “Simone,” he began, his voice deceptively calm considering the cold anger in his eyes, “It seems you are under the impression that you have rights here.” It took not even a fraction of a second for him to move the both of them to a wall, his imposing body capturing her between itself and the wall, his right hand still keeping her eyes locked on his. “You do not,” he finally sneered, moving his face down to hers until their noses were near touching.

“Understand that you are a human in a house filled with vampires. Understand that I am their king. Now, try to grasp the fact that you are subject to whatever I feel the need to do to you. If I wish for you to be skinned alive, you will be. If I wish for you to be locked in an actual prison, you will be.” His eyes had turned from angry to hard and cold, unbending and demanding. “With that in mind, consider now the gravity of your situation and the consideration I am in fact showing you.” With that, the vampire king let go of the difficult human, taking a step back to watch her briefly before glancing back at Sarai, his voice harsh and commanding as he said “Clean her up now.”

In the next instant, not stopping to even consider Sarai’s reaction, the king had both the guards pinned against a wall by the throats as he looked down upon them. “If you even take a sip of her blood, I will make sure you regret it for a very, very long time.” He let go of them just as he heard Brigitte by the door. He merely looked at her as she greeted him respectfully. He said nothing as he moved towards her, stopping once he was directly in front of her. “You’re late and I am not in a good mood.” It was all he said to her before stepping out of the room, knowing she would follow him and close the door behind them. It was a warning for her in all honesty, telling her that his patience was not at its usual level and that she should walk very carefully right now.

The pair hadn’t moved more than a few meters from the door when Nebellia’s unmistakable scent washed over him and soon she stood in front of him. The king quietly paused, his body perfectly still, arms crossed over his chest as he watched her, listening to her words, his gaze scrutinizing her. Not a word passed his lips, nor did a single expression change the cold look on his face. Frankly he was fed up with people today. Some quiet solitary would be nice. He let her hang there for a bit, not moving even the fraction of an inch as he observed her until a minute had passed. Curious about the human she could scent on him, was she?

“Nebellia,” he then started, his voice patient, but on the verge of letting some other unknown emotion pass, “Do not take me for a fool.” By that of course he referred to her excusing herself by pretending she’d done it merely for his sake. He still had several human slaves around. Besides, they were in the human world. Food was everywhere, and he was quite capable of procuring his own nourishment. They both knew his adviser had had her own interests in mind. “You had your orders.”He furrowed his brows ever so slightly, bowing his head a bit to look down at her fully, “You chose to ignore them. Not only that, but I assume you are to blame for the delay of Miss Lebelle as well.”

He paused briefly, knowing no one would dare speak in the brief interim. Then he continued, raising a single eyebrow in that expectant way of his. “How much chaos did you bring about, Nebellia? How public were your displays? And ah, please do tell me… how many humans did you have to enthral?” Alexander didn’t care about the humans themselves, but he did care that they did not draw too much attention in this place. Nebellia had a tendency to forget about such things.

---

---

"All you have to do is ask, Miss Parker. I have not heard the words 'Do not follow me' cross your lips in this conversation. And you know they would work, I respected your wishes well enough the last two times we met, did I not?" Sabine said, raising an eyebrow at her in that arrogantly controlled way of his, patronizing her quietly. She narrowed her eyes at him, clenching her teeth. Well, he was simply full of shit. He hadn’t stopped following her last time they’d met. In fact, he’d secretly followed her, and as much as the gesture was rather sweet, it was also a little creepy, and now he was completely ignoring the fact.

“Except you didn’t respect my wishes last time, did you? No. You followed me anyway.” She sneered the words, her limit about to be breached. There was only a certain amount of arrogant dickhead she could take within the span of a day, and Sabine was certainly a master at playing the “irritate Sapphire”-game, not that it was that difficult a game really. A lot of people irritated her. When she was sober. Maybe that was what she needed; alcohol. Yes. She needed alcohol. And she needed less infuriating men. She needed men she could understand. She needed… anything to make sense, really, because it seemed things around Sabine were so confusing. As much as she liked being around him, she also hated it.

When he replied "I told you I had other business to attend to" to her noting his absence once more, she rolled her eyes, merely glaring at him as he continued talking. "Traveling here from my more permanent residence isn't as easy as clicking my fingers, Sapphire. Two years isn't even that long, honestly. Usually vacations find themselves short and far between. Anyway, you didn't even have to think about it, Liebchen, you could have just put them in a box and forgotten about the whole thing until my return.” The words caused the blonde woman to fold her arms across her middle, raising an eyebrow to exude indifference.

“Could I now?” She icily asked, to which he responded "Unless you cared that much. Why are you so hurt that I didn't return to you sooner? Did you think I'd forgotten about you? And that made you so angry that you had to take some foolish revenge and 'get me back'?" She snorted, drily amused. After all, she hadn’t actually thrown out his stuff, which made his analysis rather flawed. “Or maybe,” she said, her voice still sarcastically amused, “I actually clean out my stuff once in a while, and after you had been gone for a while, I saw no reason to have your stuff lying around my apartment, when that space could be used for something actually worth keeping around.”

With that she began turning, but he spoke up again and she paused to glance at him. “Oh,” she said, overly dramatically surprised, “well, my deepest apologies for not being a mindreader then. Of course I should have magically known that you did not live in San Diego.” Then she turned back around facing away from him and towards the club she was headed for. “You know what, Sabine? Until you admit to yourself what you want from me, how about you stay away from me entirely? Leave me alone.” With those words, she began walking again. Away from him. But it seemed as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Why did she do that? Ugh, he was so irritating!

Sabine Marx

It looked like Miss Sapphire had nearly reached her limit, judging by the way her jaw clenched and the tone of her sneer. It should have been irritating, but it was actually rather endearing. Her anger. Such a strong emotion. Now that they were away from the more precarious topics he was enjoying himself again. The game had been fun, but it was obvious that she no longer wished to play. He'd have to catch her another day and start fresh again, hopefully with few memories of the deeper waters they'd crossed today. Those waters were fraught with danger and they weren't very entertaining to cross. More harrowing than anything. But she was a stubborn creature, it probably wouldn't be easy to fix that problem, but it would be a worthy challenge, wouldn't it. What was a game if it was easy to win? The only flaw here was the lack of an end goal. But that didn't matter. So long as now was good and fine he could deal with the laters when they came.

Her blue glare was icy, as were her words, though the sound she made when he mentioned her taking revenge on him seemed to lead that she agreed with him, perhaps? The sarcastic tinge of her voice made him decide that she warranted no answer to her comment, so he merely watched her, the very faintest of pleasant smiles on his lips, which denoted his disbelief well enough. There was a piece to this puzzle missing, he had a sense that her words didn't add up, but of yet he had no reason to mark her a liar, so he would wait until he could figure out just what she'd had in her head.

She turned around, or began to, but his words caught her. Yes, she was not happy in the slightest. Was it a good idea to leave her in such a state? No, probably not, but she'd be fine. He really did have to get home. Manage things. The whole lot. Yes. He watched her speak, the faint smile sparking with something akin to mischief. He'd once been a terribly mischevious creature, another thing lost to age and responsibility. She couldn't bother him when she was so bothered herself, did she realize?

With a sweep of her blonde locks she turned around and began to walk off, her sharp word still in the air. Ha, if she though he would heed that order than she was sadly mistaken. He'd leave her alone for now, she would be little more fun than he'd already had, but he was quite sure they'd find each other again soon. The city was much too small a place for anything else. And he still had the smell of her in his nose, so strong after she'd drawn near. He stood completely still for a matter of seconds as she stalked off, but he couldn't leave her with the last word, could he? That would be no fun at all.

His long legs carried him to her easily, in a moment he was behind her again, silent as a shadow. His hand hovered right over her waist, as if he'd wanted to rest it there but thought the better of it. His mouth was right by her ear for a second, and his voice was lighter than it had been over the rest of their latest meeting. "I suppose I'll see you in two years then, dear?" He teased, quite satisfied in this winning stroke of the evening's game. "Wait for me this time, won't you?" the softest of chuckles and then he turned, sliding his hands into his pockets as he strolled away, his step unfaltering. If she could play her little game then so could he. Perhaps that would stick with her for long enough that they could start of their next meeting without the pleasantries. Perhaps not with such a strong reaction as this time, he did not want her to think she could just slap him about whenever she wished. Maybe a bit of surprise. Something he could meet with a quick return and relight this funny little argument.

It was a delightful bonus that it meant that he could ever so gracefully snatch the last words from under her feet, of course.

---

Daniel Bowman

Guards. A maidservant. A human woman. A bleeding human woman. Brigitte. Nebellia. His Majesty. Yup, the works were there, they were only missing Alanya and it would be a real party. And himself of course. As he'd approached his ears had picked up the low tone of Alexander speaking, so he'd slowed down. He didn't want to arrive at a bad moment, and from the tone of voice his Majesty was currently sporting it was possible that every moment was a bad one and it would be most safe to wait until he was not speaking. It sounded like he was rebuking the royal adviser. No surprise. Then there was a pause. He turned the corner just as his Majesty began talking again and realized that he'd just used a small broken point in time for effect, he wasn't done with the caramel skinned vampire yet.

Well damn. Oh well, poor timing or not, he'd had to help his comrade up, those boys were his responsibility and while leaving them out to squirm in pain was a good thing on occasion, it had to be organized. And he had to have compassion for them or they would hate him and not listen to him. And usually he had to rescue the silly little creatures from Nebellia anyway. They seemed to fear her. For a good reason. How many of them had she broken? Poor lads. But it was certainly better than being on the front lines and having their heads lopped off by the line.

Daniel approached as Alexander finished talking and bowed without saying a word. Hopefully they'd just leave him out of this and he could wander off. This was mostly Nebellia's problem anyway, and judging by his Majesty's words Brigitte was off the hook, and he'd had less of a hand in the whole lot than the ghost had. Except for the speeding, but hey, that was what he did. And that wasn't too terrible a thing. Just transporting the wanted individuals where they were supposed to be with the utmost speed.

His eyes wandered from those present to the wall as he tested the scents more thoroughly in an attempt to sate his curiosity. He was the Captain of the Guard after all, it was his job to know what was going on, especially since he sensed guards within his Majesty's chambers along with the human woman's scent. If he was going to be down a few guards he'd have to know those things. Especially if it was long term, as the situation of the human suggested. This was a 'free-range' human, as he thought of them, and his Majesty didn't usually provide them with guards and situate them in his room while he was not within. How curious. he would poke around and see what they knew, and if there was nothing to be found there he could always ask Alanya, if he could find a good moment. It would be a bit more haphazard but acceptable in a pinch. Otherwise the curiosity would eat him alive.

Speaking of eating things alive, he'd have to see if there were any suitable humans left in the stores because the more he thought about it the hungrier he became. And he didn't feel like going out again tonight. He'd had a bit of fun with Alanya, and dealt with her temper, and then ran out to detail Nebellia and tolerate her insanity, he was going to spend the rest of this night fooling around and doing what he liked. Not that he didn't always do that, but he was going to make a point of it. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. And maybe later he could spring a drill on the guards and teach them how to deal with Nebellia, because otherwise they were all going to end up with broken ribs and a variety of other ailments, and he really did not want to deal with that. Not at all.

---

---

There was a silence that followed her words, settling about as Alexander merely stared at her coldly, not saying a word. He did not move, perhaps a quirk that would've been regarded as disturbing to someone who was unaccustomed to dealing with him. The King had that odd quality about him--able to tune out everything about him to focus on singular details. Nebellia was used to this focused gaze, however, and stared back at him, also not changing her facial expression. After several minutes, the pause finally passed and he spoke to her with an odd amount of patience, yet there was an undertone of another emotion. Tiredness, perhaps? Or more than likely his private need for solitude. Alexander had a tendency to crave some time to himself when things turned just a tad hectic. She was the same way, to a degree, mind, she threw herself into experimenting when she was in such moods. Either way, it was a difficult thing to pinpoint but she paused in her musings, choosing instead to focus on his words.

Though she kept her expression firm, she fought the reflex to frown as she listened. Orders? Yes, she had had them. Yes, she had ignored them. But Nebellia wasn't the sort to do anything without a good reason. Though oft were the times no one else would understand why precisely, at least not until later. She did not let on to her internal reflections, merely nodding curtly at mention of the delay of his personal servant. There was yet another pause, ah, he did have such a flare for dramatics, didn't he? That little eyebrow raise, the promptness of his gaze. Yes, the usual demands, the expected questions. She did not curtsy this time when she answered him, the light lace covering her hands scrunched up as she clenched them into light fists.

"I do not believe chaos would be the proper word, Your Majesty--if you'll excuse the directness of this statement," She said slowly. "Chaos implies I had no control over the situation when, in fact, I knew precisely what I was doing. My displays took place indoors in the midst of a club. The humans were mindless enough but to be on the safe side, I made sure each were enthralled to account for any loose ends." She was absolutely positive news of all the humans in the club having their memories wiped would not exactly be what Alexander wished to hear. But she had the feeling that this whole situation was among the list of things he would rather not deal with at the moment. There would be no way to get into his good graces with the way things had turned out tonight, though she did have to be careful not to say the wrong sequence of words. It didn't matter how close she was with him. In the end, he was still her King and she would have to watch her tongue.

Nebellia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before lowering her hand to her side. "Despite my reasoning for departing, I doubt it will sound like anything but excuses to you, my King." Her voice had turned somewhat cool, yet there was an edge of disappointment to it. Normally, Alexander was smart enough to perceive into her workings most of the time. Even if he didn't voice it, he always showed it. However, this time he radiated nothing but controlled anger that was directed at her. Perhaps he did not care to delve into it at the moment, perhaps he would not later. Either way, judging by the flow of conversation, there would be no point to trying to back herself up anymore. She forced herself to bow, an odd choice for the scientist since she always made it a point of fact not to do such a subservient gesture. At least, not unless the situation demanded it--in which case, she was of a mind to believe it did.

"Given that my presence has done nothing but bring you a sense of agita, I will be dismissing myself until you find it fit to summon me once more." She did not look at him as she spoke, only straightening once she had finished. She looked briefly at Daniel and Brigitte before turning on her heel to walk towards the door. She need not even glance over her shoulder to see the look that must've been on the Captain's face. One did not walk out on Alexander, one waited to be dismissed by him--especially when he was angry. But Nebellia was smart enough to know that forcing her dialogue and her reasons on him when he was already in this state of mind wouldn't be a good idea. Sure, he would be upset at her, possibly for the next several days. He may even take away her toys during this time. But she was prepared to make that sacrifice.

A brief pang of melancholy flashed across her face before she forced it back. Even if he didn't understand, she would always be there to protect him the best she could. For even though she was his adviser, at the heart of all of that, she was his friend.