Nikolai walked through the city with a speed and grace inherent to his kind. His Russian military issue boots not making even a whisper along the pavement and concrete. His chocolate colored hair was swept back, and his cream colored button-up shirt was flapping a bit as he moved. He slowed down once he had gotten to his usual feeding spot. And there were several delicious morsels around. The Animus vampire picked one out, and lured him in with a few words, and touches to the right part. No power was used, just an offer of ecstasy from the bite. After he had his fill, he sent the man on his way, and started off again.
Before he got up to full speed, however, he heard a sultry voice lilting out of a place called The Blue Lantern. He liked the old world feel of it, so he decided to peek his head in. The tall ex-communist stepped from the street into a dimly lit blues bar, where a pretty slip of a woman was singing her heart out. He sat down at one of the tables, and waited until the song was finished. When it was, he gave her a standing ovation. Then he felt something. It was a tickle of power similar to his own, but as if a long lost cousin of his own talents. He only caught a whiff of it, but it was just enough to lead him back to look at her. He would definitely need to talk to her when she was finished.
It had been a while since Aimee had sung in the Blue Lantern, and as her fingers danced across the keys of the piano she was reminded of how much she had missed the feel. Cold and easily pressed underneath her skillful hands she ended her song on a slightly sad note. The blue eyed beauty glanced up from behind her eyelashes and was surprised to hear a clapping among the crowd. Shyly she smiled and felt her cheeks go red when she saw that one man was even standing. Tucking her brown hair behind her twice pierced ears she gave him a smile, and politely thanked everyone who was watching. With that she moved away from the piano and fixing her red dress moved to walk off the stage. Her black stiletto heels clicked quietly as she began what she hoped was a graceful decent. Aimee never wore heels because as a mother she'd found them impractical. It was just common sense, that if you wanted to play hide and seek or teach your little girl soccer you wore shoes....not heels. So it became that only on the rarest occasions did she ever wear them, unfortunately this meant that she didn't have much practice walking in them let alone going down five steps. In the dim light she did not see the cord that caught her heel until it was to late. Letting out a yelp that was more of a desperate squeak she reached out for the wall to her left for stability. Aimee sighed with relief thinking that she'd come out unscathed when her heel snap beneath her. This time there was nothing to hold on to. This time a scream left her lips as she collided with a waiter's tray, bar glasses crashed into splinters around her, cutting her palms and bare legs. All around her people were standing and gawking. The waiter walked on uttering something foul under with breath. She swallowed, but as much as she wanted to be out of the sight of everyone staring at her she didn't want to cut herself further, so she sat there with her arms and back shuddering and glass shards piercing her through the folds of her dress.
The singer must have finished her set, because she righted her dress, thanked the crowd, and headed off the small stage. Niko was starting to rise to buy her a drink from the bar when she fell. The noise was cacophonous to preternatural ears, and then there came the scent of blood. She was lucky he had just fed.
With the ruddiness of fresh blood flowing into his skin, he slowly approached the injured woman, and offered her a hand to help her off the ground. When she was finally on her feet, his thick accent would fall from his lips in a deep quiet tone.
"That was nasty spill, madchen. You are bleeding. Do you need help to clean up?" He was not going to force this woman to accept his help, but if she acquiesced, he would address her wounds. "My name is Nikolai Kasyanov. I would be more than happy to help. I have many years of training."
This might confuse the woman, since he only looked about twenty four. His many years were of course many decades of war, and keeping his victims alive enough to feed from them for weeks and longer. The inky pools of his eyes looked to her, and he wondered if her power would recognize him as a kindred.
Aimee was cautious of this new stranger, the "waves" that were emulating off of him were....strange. She reached out her hands where he pulled her gently up by the wrist. He introduced himself, though she could hardly hear the words he spoke. The feelings that were sweeping over her were like....a sated cat....she could only describe it as how she'd felt when she had been pregnant with Joanna and craving chocolate milk. It was the feeling of satisfaction when the milk had started streaming down her throat. That was the closet experience she had to pin pointing what his thoughts were, which was strange, it was very rare that she felt the feelings of human's at all. A couple times on on the sidewalk, but they were different from this one. She pursed her lips at the pain in her palm, and shaking her head slightly brought herself back to wear the man was speaking to her, he told her his name and she smiled weakly at him. "That would be wonderful, thank you, for the applause and for helping me. My name is Aimee."
The woman, Aimee, decided to let him help. He smiled at her appreciation of his charity. It wasn't too big of a grin though, because he didn't want to scare the poor child. He escorted her to the bar, and reached across to grab a wet bar towel. When the bartender looked like he was going to object, Nikolai's eyes flashed with a primal warning, and the man averted his gaze and his presence for the time being.
"Here, this might hurt a bit." He used the towel to clean her cuts, and when she flinched, he would reach down to puck the fragments of glass from her supple flesh. This allowed him to cut his own finger just a bit, and by rubbing it over the lacerations, they would start healing a bit faster than normal.
"So, Aimee. You have a lovely voice. Do you do this for a living?" His nostrils would flare subtly as he breathed in her scent. She was human, mostly, but had a trace of other smells about her. She was definitely an interesting one. "Would you like a drink, perhaps?"
Aimee let herself be led to the bar all the while avoiding the eyes of the people who she passed. She paused, knowing that she looked ridiculous with one stiletto still on and the other bare, she kicked it off and continued bar foot. She watched Nickolai's face as he swerved through the crowd effortlessly, he barely brushed anyone and was more graceful then she could ever wish to be. When they reached the stools she daintily lifted herself up to one and began to examine her palm, but before she could really see the cuts in the light of the bar Nickolai took her hand into his and began wiping it gently.
He was right, it did hurt and he was also right in her guess that she would love a drink. Did they have coke? She'd never really made her way over to the bar until now, though she had been singing there for years. There had been a few times when a guy had approached her and asked if she wanted a drink, but she always dismissed them as softly as she could saying that she really needed to get home to her daughter. Most men lost interest at that point but some asked for her number, and as much as she hated to lie, she always wrote down a number that was wrong.
Aimee's laugh was cut off by a flinch. "No and yes, I own a floral business, the money I make here goes into my daughter's college fund and I would adore a a drink. What do they have? Coke?"
The bartender laughed and leaning close against the bar glanced down into the cleavage of her chest as he spoke. "This is a bar darlin. Why don't you get yourself a bit more ...strong? It'll help with the pain. How about a Long Island Iced Tea?"
Aimee had never heard of a Long Island Iced Tea but it sounded good, she discreetly leaned back in her chair as to hide her chest and gave him a smile which sent him off to make her drink. She watched at Nickolai took the shards from her palm and leaning in was amazed by how small the cuts were.
"They don't look as bad as they feel, that's so odd. There was blood dripping everywhere." No sooner had she finished her sentence did the bartender bring her a tall glass of the alcoholic beverage, she tasted it, and it was good. Warmth spread down her throat and with in minutes she barely even felt the pain.
He worked carefully along her cuts, and gently pulled each little sliver of glass out, and dropped it into an empty shot glass. When Aimee asked if the bar had coke, he was about to reply with a chuckle and affirmation that they indeed would. However, that smartass bartender wanted to poke his nose in where it wasn't wanted, and offered her a Long Island Iced Tea instead. Nikolai again shot him a menacing glare. The vampire might decide to come back here for a snack one day and not be too gentle about it.
"So, you have flower shop? What is name?" He liked flowers, and made sure she knew. "I do like flowers. If you have good price, I buy from you." The mention of a daughter would have made his heart twinge with grief had it been centuries earlier. As it was, he had long since reconciled the fact that he lost his unborn child to the monster who made him who he was today. "Your daughter is lucky to have mother work so hard for her."
She was surprised at her wounds, and she should be. they would be completely healed by morniing. "They were, how you say? Superfacial. Look worse than is." There had indeed been a bit of blood, since some of her gashes had been deep. As she tasted her drink and appeared to enjoy it, he thought he should stay and possibly bring her to her house if she passed out. "Go slow, madchen. That is strong drink. Make you drunk before you know it."
"My floral shop?" Aimee hiccuped. "It's called a Meadow of Flowers. As for the price it depends on the size, and flowers you would like in your arrangement." And so she went on for a moment, her confidence rising with the drink. She went on about Lilies and roses, her favorite which were white. He told her how Joanna was lucky to have her as a mother, and her cheeks flushed red. She stuttered a thank you and took another sip.
She watched him pull the last of the glass from her other palm. Then sipped on her drink some more, which was, she had to admit extremely good, and it wasn't long before she could feel the heat in her cheeks. His accent was strange, almost mesmerizing as he warned her about the drink, she hiccuped once more and pushed it away. It was just then that she saw one of the men she had turned down a few weeks back walking towards her. Muttering a crap to herself she turned in her seat and took her hand from Nickolai, she clutched her drink, staring into the two thirds empty glass.
"So, you'll have a drink with a complete stranger just because he helps you up from your own stupidity. I've been asking you for a drink for weeks now." Aimee didn't answer at first, she took a sip from her purple straw then spoke quietly."
"I have my reasons John." She whispered quietly, though she was quite sure but it felt like her lips were moving slower then normal. "Please leave, your embarrassing yourself."
At this the blond went red until even the tips of his ears were a bright shade of crimson. "What kind of woman is stupid enough she can't walk in heels?" He glared at Nickolai for a moment then positioned himself between Aimee and the stranger. He leaned forward and whispered into the woman's ear away from what he thought Nickolai couldn't hear. "A woman who spends most of her time off her feet and on a mattress." He took a step back. "I bet you dont even have a kid."
Flames scorched across Aimee's face as she shoved her drink away so hard that it toppled over into the lower bar across from her and rolled off the counter and smashed on the floor. The bartender cried out in anger but she ignored him. The world spun as she twisted her head and made her way to stand, it was like the bar kept moving when she thought she had stopped.
She was not a one to curse very often, but when she did she meant it, so when the the words, "Get the hell away from me." moved past her pink glossed lips they came out with a vengeance.
"Why?" The man pulled out his wallet and pulled out a twenty. "Can't I buy some of your time?" He tried to force the green bill down the front of her dress, Aimee slapped his hand. "Maybe I can meet your daughter?"
Aimee's lips pursed as she lifted up her finger and stabbed it in his chest. "You stay away from me and you stay away from my child, or we are going to have some serious issues. Leave us be, I am not into dating, I'm sorry if your pride has been hurt, but this is not my problem." The woman turned to Nickolai, trying to hide the fact that she had drunk more then she had wanted to. "Thank you Nickolai for your kindness, but I'm going home."
With that Aimee shoved past John and moved as quickly as she could through the crowd, people were jumping to a more upbeat song, it seemed the later the bar was open the more people pushed and shoved. A drink was spilled on her when she was feet away from the door and she promised herself that she would find a new bar to sing at. She didn't know where John was, her only concern was that she put as much distance between him and her. The world spun once more and she leaned against the brick wall, it was so cold, she slid down...
"I have to go home...I have to go home..." She whispered.
Nikolai was from the Old World. A time when the way a man treated a woman spoke volumes about his values and his nature. This man that talked to Aimee as nothing more than a sought after target was really beginning to bother Nikolai's calm demeanor. The money and comment that went with it was the last straw for the tall Russian. Just as Aimee passed by, he grabbed the man by his shirt, pulling him in close. Fangs flashed in the dim light of the bar, and he spoke really quiet to John. "Hello, John. My name is Nikolai. I am vampire." The blood drained from the asshole's face, and Nikolai smiled. "Ah. You know what that means. Good. I want you to apologize to her John." With those words, the kindred let his shields down, and his power surge forth. John's eyes were locked on the swirling void that had replaced the inky orbs of Niko's.
The vampire's gaze penetrated through John's portals of vision, and into his mind. That ancient power squeezed, and the man's eyes went completely blank. "Yeah...I'll apologize to her..." He was released from the grip that held him, and Nikolai watched as the man whose mind was completely rolled stumbled to the door. He flashed the bartender a warning, and picked the twenty up off the floor. Tossing it on the bartop, he said, "That should cover the drink. It's also more tip than you deserve, comrade."
He moved with vampiric speed out the door, in time to see John trying to mutter his apologies to Aimee. The only problem was, Aimee had slumped against the building, and was not in a ladylike position. It was a good thing John was mindrolled at that point. "Go home, John. Be nice." That power flooded forth like a tidal wave into the man's mind, completely destroying what he used to be.
Ignoring the man who was now sluggishly walking home, he leaned down, and picked the woman up. If she had been african-american, people would believe they were trying to reenact the Bodyguard. "Aimee. Aimee, where do you live, madchen? I will take you."
As he listened for her answer, a tiny redheaded man cmae running out, puffing and out of breath. "She..." the man gasped out. "She forgot her bag." He offered it to the towering russkie. Mr. Kasyanov gestured with his chin for him to set it in her lap, which the man did. as soon as his job was done, the man fled back inside from the scary vampire.
-- Edited by NIKOLAI KASYANOV on Sunday 17th of July 2011 12:32:27 AM
Aimee didn't know where she was when her eyelids fluttered open, though she did know that she felt sick, very sick. Pursing her lips she turned her face into something hard, her eyes widened and she moved her arm which hit something lying in her lap. She looked to see her purse, and she realized that her head was resting on an arm, and that the soft rocking she hadn't felt before was from being carried. She turned her slightly blurred vision upwards and saw NIckolai, she swallowed and gripped her purse tighter.
"Where are you taking me?" She whispered and her voice felt so small compared to the arms that were holding her.
It was starting to sprinkle, and the cold drops felt good on her skin, they passed under a lampost where a street sign glinted with water. Melrose...the white letters on the green background said, she turned her head, and there was her home, only a few more houses down and they they would be there. She remembered her daughter inside and though she was grateful to Nickolai for carrying her this far but she didn't want to let him into her home, not with her daughter Joanna inside. She thought back on John and frowned, she didn't remember what had happened. She knew she'd left the bar, but nothing after, under her breath she cursed the bartender and then something else flickered, like a switch being turned on in her mind. It was a tingling in her brain that she never had often enough to get used to, it happened sometimes, at random intervals and only for a short amount of time and only with certain people. She frowned, they were only two houses down from her place and it was seemingly growing stronger with each step that Nickolai took forward.
The woman in his arms roused slowly. He was almost to the address he had coaxed out of her. When she asked where he was taking her, he knew she had to have had something more than liquor in her drink.
"I am taking you to your house. You fell down, and I thought you needed rest."
He had of course moved with all his preternatural speed before a few moments ago, and now he was moving human slow, while approaching her house. He sniffed the air, and found the scent of something not welcome. He stopped, and looked down at Aimee.
"I think there is someone in or around your house. Can you stand? I will take look around."
He didn't tell her how he knew, and he definitely didn't tell her he smelled a shifter somewhere in the area. He eased her down so her feet were on the ground, and held her with a supporting arm until she could balance on her own.
Aimee thought it was strange that Nickolai sense that something was in her house just as she did. A frightening apprehension enveloped her and as Nickolai moved to walk away she gripped his arm. "My daughter..." She whispered, and swallowed, she gripped the man's arm even tighter without realizing it. "Is inside the house."
She looked at him apprehensively, then at her home, the feelings she could sense were not calming but....feral....it took her a moment to think of the word. She touched a hand to her forehead which had now begun to swim and pound like waves against a bucket. She tottered and letting go of Nickolai's arm squatted on the ground for a moment. She'd never been drunk before, she'd never even been tipsy, and after tonight she was determined never to be again. She raised her head at the sound of barking. "Rose. " She whispered, the dogs bark was a human scream, impossible to drown out, impossible to mistake. It was angry and frightened and, just then the scream turned to a high drawn out squeal of pain. "Rose!" Aimee screamed, hearing the pain was nothing like feeling it in her mind. She staggered forward, and with renewed adrenaline pulsing through her veins she surged forward onto the white gate that led to the sidewalk towards her home. She scrabbled with the lock for a moment then shoved it so hard the hinges sang. Tripping she scrapped her knee, she didn't care, Rose wasn't screaming anymore, but she might as well have been, she continued to run.
He watched as she wobbled on her feet, and then she lowered her center of gravity to stabilize. Her daughter was in the house, and then she yelled about a Rose. That must be her daughter, he surmised. He had heard the barking of the dog, and the sudden squeal followed by silence. There was definitely something there. She started running for her house, and he discarded any remnants of the human illusion, and became a blur in the night as he sped into a leap over the fence, and clear into the backyard.
As he landed, he let his inky shields fall and his power spread rapidly around the yard. With fangs bared in a menacing feral growl, he spoke soft enough not to scare Aimee or her daughter, but the shifter would definitely hear it clear as a bell.
"Leave here now, and I let live. Stay, and I am not responsible. If you die, you die."
He stalked around the yard, and found the poor dog's body on the porch. The jugular had been bitten raggedly. He followed the scent of the shifter, and it led him around the corner of the house, towards the garage.
Aimee scrabbled up to the front door then glanced around for Nickolai before trying to shove open. It was locked, growling she pressed the weight of her body against it cussed and ran down the steps towards the back. She remembered her purse but her mind was screaming that she may not have enough time to grab it and come back. Fear made her throw herself into the night and hurdle herself to the side of the house. She slipped a couple times on the grass before making her feet pound on the steps leading up to the back porch. A blood curdling scream left her lips as the back yard sensor came on and light flooded the back porch. She fell to her knees in front of her dog, Rose. Blood still leaked from the wounds at her neck, the dogs vocal cords had been ripped clear from her. Aimee's hands shook as she touched the body.
"No." She whispered, tears filling her eyes. "What? How? Dear God in heaven." Her voice cracked between words. "Who could do this?"
Rose, the dog she'd known since she was eight, was dead. Aimee could hardly believe it, even as she touched the blood and rubbed it twixt her fingers. The Labrador had given Aimee the gift she'd known her entire life, Rose and her had shared a connection stronger then Aimee had ever shared with anyone else and now it was over. Aimee knew she still had her powers, she could still feel the feral, hungry thing itching at the edge of her brain. She could tell the general direction of where it was now, and wrapping Rose in one final embrace she stood, and began sprinting to where she knew her purse would be. There was no panicked frenzy clouding her mind, only sheer determination and will. She picked up her purse, took out the keys and unlocked the door, entering the house she went immediately for her bedroom and to the nightstand where her husband used to lie.
She wished Brett was here right now, more then she had ever before. With pursed lips she stared down at the gun and watched in her minds eye the memory of Brett cocking it. They'd been standing in the bright yellow kitchen, she'd been wearing a white dress, and him a black shirt and camouflage pants. He'd stood close to her, hugging her around the waist once before showing her how to cock the gun, how to point and handle the weapon. She'd laughed and told him "Why would I ever need to hold that if I have you who can shoot so well?" She'd kissed his cheek and turned the radio on and began singing to the song that turned on. Unforgettable by Nat "King" Cole. They danced there in the kitchen. Now she picked up the weapon and held it just as he had done then, she cocked it and stalked out of the room.
