Cas stretched lazily and wandered out of the club he'd been bar tending at for the last month or two. He liked the gig, it wasn't the worst one he'd ever had and he made good money with it. Didn't eat up all of his time, though it wasn't really the best given his predilictions to having a nightlife. Crixus seemed to tolerate it just fine so far, but Cas never knew when the mood would change, despite his best attempts to sort of predict it.
Anyway, it was a good night and it was still warm and a little humid outside, though not half as bad as it was in the day. This was home, though, he'd been raised down here so the weather was the least of his worries. You either got used to it, or you moved, simple as that really. He wondered if Jenna was still up, then chuckled. He seriously doubted it, it was edging in on the wee hours of the morning and he was pretty sure she took time to get some beauty sleep. Besides, she didn't exactly live alone. Hell, she might be curled up with one of her squeak toys - the fox or the rat - and far be it from him to interrupt that fun with a random ass call.
That train of thought was interrupted when he heard a scuffle down the alley, gold eyes drifting back until he had to turn his head, glancing over his shoulder. Well, that didn't look at all good. A sharp breath quickly identified four of the bodies as human and one - the one on the ground - as a vampire. Hn. He shifted, staying by the wall and keeping still as he watched, wondering what the fuck this mess was. Then it became increasingly clear when he saw the flash of silver in the dim light and heard a hiss of pain, caught the scent of blood. Really? The vampire must have been young, drugged, or just real fucking surprised if a pack of humans got the better of him, and on the one hand Caspian's sense of Darwinism insisted he just let this happen. On the other hand, he had a thing about people jumping others to make a profit or a statement, and he was pretty damn sure that the only people that would attack a vampire were either after the blood to sell, or wanting to make a political message out of it.
Cas stood there for a moment, then scowled. Godfuckingdamnit. Wasn't he getting too old for this shit or something? Besides, he had no idea of knowing if the silver chains and spikes were the only thing these guys were packing. Even if bullets weren't silver, they would really fucking hurt. Fuck. Against his possibly better instincts, he prowled down the alley and interrupted the blood-collecting fest by shoving one of the guys over with his foot.
"C'mon now... even crackheads got more sense."
Maybe he lucked out. Maybe God really did have a sense of humor, or felt like enough bad karma had come his way for a while. Maybe he was really just that fucking good: he didn't take shit from wolves (as long as there wasn't a whole damn pack), lions, or even bears. He wasn't about to take it from a bunch of junkie or dealer punks. Whatever it was, Cas won his fight with minimal bloodloss on his part - he couldn't quite say the same for the two guys that actually tried to stay and fight. One hand taken off as soon as he realized someone saw them; another left when he realized Cas was ready to fight over it. The other two were just dumb, and didn't know the difference between a fully aware and sober tiger and an out-of-it, trapped vampire. He stayed in his skin more for his own protection than anything else - if he changed, well... people might hear about seeing a tiger in an alley, and they might be more likely to report that than a brawl behind a club.
Caspian crouched down, picking up one of the vials of collected blood. Yeah, he knew they sold this shit, knew it was worth more than the same amount of cocaine. Still. He tossed it at the wall to shatter the glass and spill the blood, then turned his attention to the vampire still pinned to the ground.
"I jus' want you ta know, this ain't got a damn thing ta do wid you." He didn't know the woman, didn't plan on getting to know her. Cas stared at the silver spikes. To avoid feeling too much of a burn he took off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand so he could pull them out, tossing them aside. "Top a the food chain my ass," he grumbled as she worked herself free from the rest of it.
He rose slowly, pulling his shirt back on. He'd been cut by something - maybe a knife - and it fucking hurt but he'd be fine. And he hadn't been shot, which was really the best part of the damn night now.
Cas stood there waiting while the vampire made her stumbling escape, then sighed and rubbed his neck. Fuck. Now he needed a damn bath. His original plan had been to head back to the twins' house... Fuck it. He'd still do that. They had a bigger tub anyway.
