Before the sun had even fully set, the petite vampire had been out on her way to the one place she knew would be a good start on her search for finding Geller. Paix. The place that one Jenna Foster owned and operated. The one place that Nike had avoided like the plague ever since the night where she'd revealed her most hidden secret to her Shaggy Knight. It wasn't because of the woman, she'd barely been able to get to know each other on their trip from New York to New Orleans due mostly to her being stuck in a coffin in the back of a van for a majority of the ride. That had changed after Geller had spoken of being with the tigress, and the diminutive vampire had done her homework well.
Not that she'd gone to get to know the woman personally, but she'd done enough research to know probably more intimate details about her life then most could ever hope to uncover. She knew if there was any chance that Geller was fine, that he would be with Jenna, or at the very least, the lovely tigress would know where he was. So that was her destination. She could only hope the feeling of something being dreadfully wrong was simply the effects of an over active imagination.
The sky was starting to darken beautifully when deep silver eyes scanned the doorway to the establishment. Without even the barest moment's hesitation the tiny vampire pulled open the door and walked calmly inside. For all her demeanor, the woman was a vast ocean of conflicting emotions underneath a well conceived facade of serenity. Her eyes alighted on one person, and another, searching for the golden-haired owner as the smallest of frowns tugged on her lips, the only clue to her current mood.
Not seeing her, she marched over to the front desk, those eyes flashing dangerously as she looked at the person behind the counter. "I need to speak with Jenna, immediately." Her voice was a barely contained whisper, but it brooked no argument. The faster this was done the better. Either she could leave the place knowing that all her worry was for not, or she would leave with murder on her mind, and a hunt to perform. Her head titled to the side as she waited patiently, well as patiently as she could at the moment for the tigress to arrive.
After that she became as still and as silent as a statue. For all intents and purposes she could have been made of marble and alabaster. She didn't even bother to take a breath as the seconds ticked by on the clock. When Jenna appeared, Nike finally took a breath, and frowned even harder. The scent she was searching for was not on the woman at all. Others were, and it confused her for a second before she brushed the thoughts away, looking up at her, already dreading the answer to the question she was about to ask, but it had to be confirmed. She had to know the truth. "Do you know where Geller is?"
-- Edited by NIKE SPENCER on Tuesday 21st of June 2011 07:03:50 PM
No one had to tell Jenna that Nike had entered her place of business. She'd spent enough time around the petite vampire, albeit most with Nike encased in her place of sleep, that the scent and feel was distinctly familiar.
Her jaw steeled, clear eyes lifted from the emails and texts she was both sending and receivng. Nike being here could only mean one thing. Geller really had disappeared. A thousand thoughts tumbled through her mind, the adage given her to 'stop thinking so much' was moot. She was already kicking into overdrive, the power she kept so firmly locked was leaking out, the knowledge that what she suspected was reality was now settling into the marrow of her bones.
The blonde arrived without delay, the message given to her even as she was heading in Nike's direction. She did not answer then and there, too many eyes and ears that loved to gossip more than they loved the air they breathed.
Jenna was already dressed for what was to come. Black on black, layered and made for what she did best. Once she had drawn Nike into a discreet alcove, she spoke.
"I do not know where he is, but I believe I know who has him..." Saying it out loud gave it substance, gave her blood urgency, and tightened the coiling knot of tension in her gut to an all time high.
He hadn't abandoned her. He hadn't walked away and left her to her own devices. He had been taken. For a few moments, she let the heated rush of fury that caused to saturate her system.
Whatever pieces of Jenna that had warmed, whatever life she'd found in discovering herself again, was slowly smothered in a clawing coldness that crept from her soul outward.
One thing halted its progression. Nike's presence. This was the woman that Geller loved. This was the woman that loved Geller. Despite Jenna's apathy at this point about the entire situation, she had heart enough to understand what it took for Nike to come here...and ask.
"Wherever he is, I will find him. " Every contact she had ever made was put on notice. Every favor ever owed her was called in. Whatever it took, she would make this right. Her features began to grow tight; a delicate flair of nostrils, the instinctive snarl of her upper lip, her beast running close to the surface, panting to hunt, to track prey. Yet, there was still amazing control. Control that once unleashed needed slaking.
The look in the tiger's eyes forestalled any more questions that the diminutive vampire might ask until they were in a less open setting. She followed Jenna to the quiet little alcove, those silver eyes piercing in their intensity. When the woman finally spoke, her eyes narrowed for a moment before a slender raven brow arched towards the ceiling. "If you know who has him, tell me." It wasn't a request, it was a quiet demand.
Nike knew the woman might not like the tone of her voice, but the centuries old vampire was past the point of caring, and also past the point of hiding what she was. If she had said something in New York, if she had tried to take care of the situation then, possibly none of this would have happened. She couldn't go back in time and fix things, but she was damn sure not about to take a back seat when Geller could be out there somewhere, hurting. It didn't matter to her that he had chosen Jenna. He could have her, though other people's scents she smelled on the tigress exasperated her a little. What mattered to her was knowing he was alright, and happy.
When Jenna said that wherever he was, she would find him, silver eyes flashed with barely concealed anger. "You will find him? He left to be with you. Yet, I can't even sense his smell anywhere on you!" Her fingers curled, balling her hands into fists as a frown settled stonily on her face. "How long did it take you to turn your back on him?" A cold rage was filling the petite vampire, and with it, just a small bit of the deadly force of her power started to leak through her tightly bound shields. "How could he have disappeared, and you not be the first to know about it?"
She watched Jenna's face as that upper lip curled, watched as she held onto the control of her beast, and for an instant, her power wanted to wrap itself around the feline, rip that control to shreds, and let her know just who the hell she'd been dealing with. "You listen to me and you listen good. I want to know everything you know, and whatever scrap of information you might turn up or uncover. Then I will handle getting Geller back! Stay here with you business and your tigers and make sure that your family stays safe."
Nike's eyes blazed with a lethal chill that dared the woman to argue with her. Her body was tightly coiled, ready for anything, and her senses were on fire. "I swear this to you, if he is alive, then I will bring him back home." She paused, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she stared at Jenna's so that the woman could not misunderstand her in any way, "But if he's not, I will make you beg for death before I am finished with you."
While Nike tried to suss out weaknesses with Jenna’s life choices, thinking somehow to throw her off balance, she wondered at the vampire’s intent. She neither owed nor felt obligated to explain one thing to this woman. The behavior was so typical of many she’d met in her life, she was disappointed. She’d expected something more…impressive.
Her eyes grew sharp and unwavering, this had suddenly become a waste of her time.
“No. You listen to me, and listen well. Your efforts at intimidation are quite quaint and quite wasted. “ the words came in staccato spats, like bullets hitting glass.
“Your vow means nothing on the cusp of threats.“ There was a heated wave that came from Jenna, she felt the cold chill from Nike, she felt her using her powers to dare and intimidate. It was a rush to know that she could possibly find her outlet for violence more quickly than she had anticipated. She was absolutely sure the vampire had power, but she was also absolutely confident that she held her own well in hand and had no qualms about unleashing with ferocity.
She’d had every intention on asking Nike for help, on letting her know the details of everything that transpired and work together. To find Geller and bring him home.
Now? She was disinterested in anything to do with the vampire. Her powers, her abilities to try to shred her control, her need to place blame at Jenna’s doorstep for Geller’s choices.
“ So let’s go Nike, let’s do this, start your almighty doling out of abilities here and now. You bring your power, I will bring mine, I guarantee you that it will not be as easy as you seem to think, and in the end, after it all, you have done nothing to help get him back. “
Jenna was no prima donna, she did not dance the dance for long before engaging. Fear was a non issue, pain was pain, blood was blood, and right now the vampire seemed more intent on proving she could rumble than doing anything productive.
The diminutive vampire had not been trying to suss out weakness in the tigress's life choices, simply trying to understand how Geller disappearing could have happened without the person he'd gone to be with knowing about it immediately. She could care less about how Jenna spent her time or who she spent it with, that it had not been Geller had been a shock.
When the set of the woman's shoulders stiffened and her eyes took on that unwavering measure before her words sound out, a cruel smile started forming on Nike's lips. Even now, Jenna had no idea just who she was truly talking to. She was not some young vampire to be baited into a fight. Though by the look on the woman's face, Jenna believed it was a fight the tigress could win. The truth of the matter was the complete opposite.
"Child, it was not a threat, but a promise." She felt the heat coming off the tigress in waves, and it made her lips twist just a little bit more. She did not blame the woman for Geller's choices, but, in her mind, the situation they had all been placed in could be rested neatly at Jenna's feet. If not for the chance meeting of the woman in a bathroom, they would not be here now, and Geller would not be missing. Her head tilted to the side as she went into that place she believed lost and long dead inside her. Her entire demeanor changed, and anyone who had experience knew they were looking into the eyes of a cold hearted, trained killer. She'd been created to bring death and destruction, trained for over a hundred years at the best ways of taking life.
Jenna's next words had her brows lifting slowly, and this time she let the full crushing weight of her power enter her voice. "You really want to do this now when he's out there, possibly dying or in trouble?" She didn't invoke anything else, but her voice had enough strength to overwhelm even the strongest of lycans. She was trying to let the tigress understand without violence that she was not someone to be trifled with. She was a master vampire, and she had power over all beasts. That included Jenna and her precious tigers, if she willed it.
Her power was primed, the chill of it mixed exotically with the heat of the beasts that resided inside her. The myriad colored tiger inside her leaped forward and roared on the metaphysical plane, sensing another so close. The warning was clear. "If you want death, then let's dance, shall we? Or you can tell me what I need to know." She paused, again, her eyes starting to glow and taking on the color of hard diamonds as the power swirled around her like a metaphysical shit storm just waiting to rain disaster. "It is your choice, but if you choose to dance with me, I will get the information I want before your demise. So, what's it gonna be?"
Jenna felt the power, the chill. It was the power of a master vampire, and while she was an Alpha tigress, the very definition of the word, and could resist to a certain extent, she was most certainly not trifling. There was more at stake here than pride and posturing. The presence of power was not a new sensation, it was everywhere if you looked hard enough. The white tigress queen rose from her patient wait for the hunt. The myriad colored tiger was smelled, she was drawn to it.
She did not fear it, nor what it could do, death did not hold the strange mystery for this one that it did others. Jenna found a certain thrill in the very presence of power, her own plowing into Nike’s with the heritage of generations of her kind. Born. Not made. It was like diving into frigid waters on a sultry summer day. Shocking, refreshing, even caused a shiver sometimes, but alluring.
"Very clever, Nike. Turning my own words around back to me." It was clever, but somewhat transparent. They were both wasting time. "This was your doing. You came here, looking to exert your power over me. The question was first posed to you, Nike. That after you do all this, you may still not do anything productive in getting him back. That you are wasting time by trying to power handle me into doing what you wish. Very impressive indeed, but over done. I was ready to offer you any information I had, yet you seemed intent on bringing it to this point.”
It was beyond ridiculous. Standing here in a place of business while a centuries old vampire exerted power and the white queen resisted.
They could fight, Nike might even win temporary control, but killing Jenna was not going to be done with the flick of her power as she thought. Period. If it was accomplished, there was still no win. Geller was still missing.
Jenna pursed her lips, then walked to grab a piece of paper, writing across it. The humans in the place had subconsciously moved far away, Valen was keeping things running while Jenna handled matters.
“Here are the facts. Geller and I had parted ways. We argued, he left. This was more than six weeks ago, possibly seven. My former boss, whose name and last known location is here, as well as a few other locations where he might possibly be, is most likely responsible for holding Geller now. If you find him before me, more power to you." Jenna did not care who found Geller, as long as he was found.
As for the rest of the edict, Nike had not claimed Jenna as hers to call, she had not reeled her into anything, and they both knew it would not be as simple a thing as Jenna hitting her paws and whimpering. It was a bit more complicated than that.
She inclined her head formally to the vampire, turned on a booted heel and was gone. She had things to do, leads to follow, and Nike could do the same. Working both angles, surely one would find him soon.
The petite vampire felt the power of the tiger queen rise and slam into her. The tiger inside her roared again, and she held tightly to it. To keep it from trying to tie the beautiful little queen to her with metaphysical bonds that would have been stronger than any steel. She felt the depth of the woman's power, and her eyes narrowed. She was strong, and if they decided to both go at it right then and there, it would not be an easy fight. The only thing that made Nike confident of coming out on top was the centuries of experience she carried with her. That and other secrets she held still tightly inside.
When Jenna called her clever, she lifted a brow. "Whatever you may think, I did not come here looking to exert my will over anyone. It was you, and your declaration that you would go and find him, without mention of me or any others, that started this little spat, my dear. You do not command a vampire, any vampire and tell them that you will handle things for them. Unless they've asked for your help."
Her eyes watched the tigress levelly as the woman pursed her lips and then walked away to grab a paper. Instantly it was like a switch turned off. The diamond hard glow of her eyes dimmed until they were back to the gleaming liquid silver pools. Her power was pulled back in along with the tiger inside and leashed behind the impenetrable wall of her shields. She was simply Nike, a vampire yes, but only those of the supernatural community would be able to tell what she truly was.
As the woman walked back, telling Nike the facts, a frown tugged at her lips. Learning that Jenna and Geller had argued and parted ways well over a month ago, gave her a good time frame of when he disappeared. Considering that he'd never come back to talk with her after her revelation as he promised. Those eyes flicked to the paper holding the name of the man who possibly had her Shaggy Knight, and his last known location. The information was stored in her memory, and then she looked up at Jenna with a new awareness of things.
"I may have been rash in my manner." It wasn't exactly an apology for promising to kill the tigress if Geller was found out to be passed from this world, but it was as good as one coming from a master vampire. "I do appreciate your cooperation." She watched as the woman inclined her head and then stalked away the smallest of smiles tugging on her lips. While she might not have made a new friend today, she was assured that the tigress was indeed looking for Geller, and well, two people working for the same goal was always better than one. With one last glance around the place, she vanished in the blink of an eye.
-- Edited by NIKE SPENCER on Wednesday 22nd of June 2011 05:13:06 PM
Jenna was not even half way out the back door when suddenly the shadows began to materialise right in front of her. The orange and black furred fox suddenly appears in front of Jenna, wearing what could only be described as a skin tight suit to that kitsune form. He blocked Jenna's path now and shook his head. "Do you think I would be absent while some ignorant corpse thretened my mistress? I think not." In the red and black sash around his waist. A new weapon was now present upon him, the white sheathed and hilted katana snugly kept at his waist.
"Command me my queen and I shall bring heads to Inari's feet and feast on their hearts. This loyal kitsune is at your service." Kaikou made a grand display of bowing very low to Jenna, before a grin began to form wide across that fox face. "I shall not jump in to your affairs, but if I have to come after you, my love. Be aware, I will kill everything in my path, with no mercy. I feel not but a speck of it, if it keeps me from you. This new blade, which will soon be yours, has yet to taste death." Kaikou stepped aside now to allow Jenna to leave through the back door if she did so wish it. His mask of Inari hanging from his side, the fox was obviously ready to go somewhere with her.
It didnt matter where she was going, he'd follow her to the gates of a Baekmono hive of fith and corruption if it was where her path led her.
Jenna came to a complete halt when she saw Kaikou's form appear. Her brows edged up with his words and flourish, eyes lowering as he bowed, then started to grin.
Jenna knew he would not butt into her affairs unless asked, she also knew that when a line was crossed, when she herself was placed in a position of danger, he would hold true to his words. He was nothing if not explicit in his chivalrous defense of his tigress.
"She is certainly not ignorant, Kaikou. Merely very worried about someone she cares for..." She inclined her head to the kitsune. She knew he was going to come with her, she knew if she tried to reason with him over this, she would be wasting more precious time. She opened her mouth to speak again, then just exhaled. Accepting it.
She was on her way to her car when she stopped and turned again. "A sword, for me?" The grin began slow, but transitioned to a full one when she realized it was going to be a blade of great dignity and delicious in her hands. She licked her lips in anticipation.
"Excellent. Come, we must hurry, Kaikou....." Where to begin was always the hardest part, but begin they would. No matter what, she knew that Nike would track from one end, Jenna from another, and Kaikou was no slouch in the tracking department himself. They had to do it quickly, enough time had already been unintentionally wasted in a span of weeks at this point.
"Junko has flown all the way from Satsuma to deliver the blade and to visit. My cousin needs to be away from what is soon to be her leadership and for the both of us to learn and resolve certain things." Kaikou needed help living in this new world, Junko was the closest to a modern kitsune he could trust. She would not be staying long nor would she become involved in these affairs."
He could sense the anticipation Jenna had for the blade, but he only grinned at her. "Nuh uh uh, you shall recieve it once we begin the training. I am only overseeing the blades quality before hand. But it is a special blade meant for a Khan's nobility." As Jenna left out the back door, Kaikou was quick to jump inside the tinted car, dark enough that it would conceal a fox demon was sitting in the passenger seat. Kaikou was content to let Jenna do the searching, it was her endeavor. He would aid her with knowledge and sword if it came to it.
But before any of that could happen, safety first! The fox was quick to fumble with the seatbelt and struggled to get it on. He was quick to try to get buckled in, because Jenna Foster drove like the Red Baron of WW1. Crazy.
She was ready to go, but then the fumbling began. She tried to help, but each time her hand reached over to help with the seat belt, he moved it and tried again. This was nearly as bad as the ATM dilemmas. Or the laptop. Kaikou and modernity did not align, in any way, shape or form.
"I am glad Junko is visiting..." for obvious reasons. The seat belt finally buckled, Jenna popped the car into gear and was off like a shot. Maneuvering through New Orleans was just a preliminary.
"Kaikou, hold tight.." She screeched around a corner, loving how the car held to the road like it was on rails. Low lying and wide tracked for stability, it was a vehicle she'd had for nearly five years, and she couldn't even bear the thought of getting rid of it. Jenna was like a guy about her car. It was her baby, had a name, and got premo treatment.
