Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lutetia City: Audrieu

Gabriel's smile didn't vanish so much as change, thinning as he settled his gaze on Jason. His face didn't betray the sudden chilling of his mood, fury of the cold, calculating sort filling his being. To have his authority of nearly a century ignored by an overgrown whelp with anger issues was irritating enough, to be challenged for his own role after he had merely served its function, protecting Rowan...

Needless to say, there could be no other answer than to make Jason remember why he had stood in his role for so very long. Blood and magic pulsed under his skin, and he started to step towards the younger member, heat shimmering around his claws.

Rowan's voice cut through, however, and as he clasped his hands into fists, he stopped, looking to his leader to meet that glare unflinching. He bowed slightly.

"Of course, Rowan. We'll settle what needs settling after you finish your own business."

Turning he strode out of the room, pulling another cigarette from his pocket as he headed for the outside. Things had changed around the Scions, and he idly wondered how many other whelps needed hammering back into order before he could again like what he saw.
 
Jason, sensing Gabriel's shift in demeanour and movement towards him had turned to face him, his eyes narrowing... but Rowan's words were enough to stay the old wolf's hand, and so Jason settled for fixing the veteran with a glare. There would be blows exchanged before the night was through, that much was certain.

Luckily for Alysa, his focus was on Gabriel, and her muttering escaped his notice. He nodded to Rowan without another word, and stepped from the room, closing the door behind him to afford the pack leader and his bitch some privacy.

"Oi," he snarled after Gabriel's retreating back. "We doing this now? We're in the middle of a war, old timer. If you aren't going to step up now, you'd better be ready to follow orders until you do. There's no room for us to have an unclear chain of command."
 
"It'll be happening, Jason. You left no room to maneuver that when you shat yourself in front of Rowan." Lighting his cigarette, he dragged on it, blowing smoke at he turned to look at Jason sidelong. Gabrie's face was unreadable, but the lone blue eye focused on the young second didn't waver. "But it'll happen when Rowan finishes his business. This isn't some pissing contest between two young bloods over a disagreement, this is deciding who his hand is. And frankly, the hand he's got right now is looking..."

Gabriel merely scowled, turning to lean against the wall. His free hand fell to his side, fingers crooked to work his craft should Jason explode. Taking a drag, he sighed, though he didn't relax his guard. "You overgrown mongrel. I've seen stupid shit in front of Rowan before, this is perhaps one of the best. I'm back five minutes and I what do I find? The Casino's been fucked up, a fucking handful of pack where I expected a hell of a lot more, Rowan's fucking livid, and now your fucking testosterone?"

The old wolf looked directly at Jason, cold rage behind icy eyes.
 
When no one came after her to stomp her for her words, Alysa relaxed and stepped outside with a slight grunt. Inhaling deeply, she held in the air before releasing it in a slow deep exhale. Her eyes closed a moment and she just took in the different sounds happening nearby. Sliding open her green eyes, the young adult peered around while debating on her next course of action. “Jason will probably be busy with Gabriel, which means he won’t be watching over me. I like that.” Tugging out her phone, Alysa glanced at the different messages, musing a little before tucking it back away again. Stepping further away from the door, the Scion moved around the corner and pressed her back against the wall, stretching out her body a little.

“Not going anywhere until I know Aoife is safe and not going to be harmed anymore.” Her words were still soft even though both Jason and Gabriel hadn’t come outside yet. Or if they had, they weren’t in her vicinity, which made her a happy pup, and she might as well be content for the time because it wouldn’t be long before Rowan ensured she got an attitude adjustment.
 
Jason snarled, stepping forwards aggressively. "You keep speaking to me like that and you won't have the liberty of choosing when I smear you over the concrete," he growled, fists clenched and fury burning in his stare. "You should know better than to assume you kept your authority when you got put away. And you should know better than to throw your fucking hexes at Rowan. You're the one that left me without any choice. You're back five minutes and you've given me more reason to beat you into the dirt than I've ever needed for anyone else."

The larger youth jerked his head towards the stairs and the door beyond. "Either shut your mouth or get outside, now. We're going to take this away from the safehouse, or it'll draw too much attention."
 
"It's going to wait for Rowan to witness." Gabriel answered quietly, his other hand crooked with a particularly nasty hex. "Because I'll not waste the time and effort for it to go unwitnessed, and still have this issue later."

He didn't mention that he had never absconded his authority, he had exercised it. He had taken Rowan's place in that prison, and served his leader's time in his stead. And he'd done what could be done to minimize that time, so he could stand where he was right now. But he was dangerously close to telling tradition to go fuck itself and working this shitty substitute over some coals in hell, as he took another drag and blew it long and slow from his nose. The Aanar heritage flowing in his veins veritably demanded that he test the limits of Jason's own regeneration, to make him know what pain was.

The rationality that serving the Scions for as long as he had kept that bloodlust from acting, and more, from showing.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to cool my heels until then." Gabriel raised his smoke for another drag, maintaining an unblinking eye on Jason.
 
"Wouldn't have to wait if you hadn't fucked with his head," Jason snapped. "But fine. I'll enjoy putting you into the ground in front of Rowan. I'll make sure he knows he made the right choice in replacing you."

Pausing to spit at the elder wolf's feet, Jason turned and strode back towards the stairs. He stopped to cast a glower in Alysa's direction. "Alysa, wait here until this is through with, and forward what Rowan sent you about the job to my phone," he instructed, before making his way up to throw on the rest of his clothes.
 
“Oh, god damn it.” Alysa muttered at Jason’s request, not pleased that she was being scrutinized so much. Surely, she wasn’t the only one that failed or the only one that smarted off a time or two. Why was Rowan riding her ass so damn hard anyways? She would show them all sooner than later and then they would all be apologizing for the way they had been treating her. The idea of Gabriel keeping Jason busy and off her ass wasn’t working out how she imagined and she tugged out her phone again, scrolling through the messages before leaning back against the wall, tempted to hit delete.

“Mmk.” Alysa finally just forwarded the text message to Jason’s phone, glaring a little before stuffing her phone back into her pocket. Moving off further away from the rest of them, she crouched down a little, sitting down on her ass with her knees tucked up against her chest. “Fucking bullshit, that’s what this is…”
 
As written by Lobos, Script, and Knosis

Rowan looked at the door with a sigh, knowing what waited him on the other side. Responsibilities. As young as he was, he was beginning to feel age creep up on him. He knew it would be phone call after phone call of rescheduling missed clients, yelling at workers, and making new deals. He had no one he thought he could rely on. Even Jason, as strong and useful as he was, couldn’t be trusted with some of the tasks the leader had to undertake every day to keep the Scion name where it was.

And he knew Jason would be looking for him. As well as his former second.

Finishing buttoning his wrinkled shirt and brushing back his salt and peppered hair with his fingers and lit a cigarette, he took in a deep draft in and braced himself as he emerged from the room.

Jason had spent most of the night brooding over the upcoming fight. It had been inevitable from the moment that he stepped into Gabriel’s shoes whilst the older wolf was in prison, but the way in which it had come about made his blood boil. Not even the slightest acknowledgement of his position, just the assumption that the last three years meant nothing, and he could walk back in and start giving orders as though nothing had changed.

Well, Jason thought to himself, scowling out at the dawn and tightening his grip on the windowsill. Things had changed. And before long, he would make sure that Gabriel knew it. The old wolf had never respected him, had never recognised his potential like Rowan had. Now that potential was going to come back and bite him in the ass.

The sound of the door to Rowan’s room opening drew Jason’s attention out of his thoughts, and he pushed off of the windowsill to make his way down to meet him in the hall.

“Rowan,” he called out to the pack leader, doing his best to keep the anger out of his voice. “Need to speak with you.”

Rowan’s cold blue hues took in the young lad for a moment before puffing smoke out. It was evident Rowan was in no mood for this at the moment, but it was inevitable either way.

“Alright.” He said, closing the door behind him. “I’m listening.”

“Gabriel’s challenged me for pack second. He won’t fight without you as a witness, or else it would already be dealt with,” Jason scowled, clearly frustrated with having had to wait all night. “I know you’ve got shit to deal with, but we need to sort this out before it becomes a problem. So when you’ve got a moment…” he turned to glower down at the stairs. “I’ll try to make this quick.”

Blowing a plume of smoke in the morning air, Gabriel mused quietly on the confrontation to come. Resting against the building, he absently itched his scar, wondering what all had come to pass while he was away.
A heavy sigh escaped him as he flicked the cigarette away, rolling his shoulders. He’d rested lightly through the night, leaving the inevitable from his mind to maintain his condition. The sound of voices from within drifted to his enhanced hearing, too indistinct to decipher words but enough to recognize voices. Sliding his hands into his pockets, he straightened up, passing through the door as he ambled casually back inside to go meet with Rowan and Jason.

The man’s gaze never left Jason and grew heavier on his target as he spoke. But Jason was right. They were in a war right now, and there didn’t need to be confusion on who was leadership in this pack. Not right now.

“Very well.” He said, drawing his words at length, his attention picked off of Jason as Gabriel entered the room. “I guess there is no better time than the present.”

Running a hand through his hair again and scratching at his beard, he started shuffling towards the kitchen. Coffee was needed.

“We’ll need to do it away from here though. Knowing the both of you, you’ll make enough noise to wake the dead and I don’t want anymore fucking attention here right now. We’ll need to move safe houses anyway, but I’d like to keep this one standing..” He grumbled.

Jason nodded sharply. “The junkyard isn’t too far from here,” he stated. “And should be deserted this early. Nobody’s going to notice some extra crashing from there.”

He turned to face Gabriel as the other man entered, doing his best to keep his expression under control, although his eyes still visibly narrowed.

The older wolf ignored Jason’s stare, though nodded. “Junkyard sounds fine to me.”

Gabriel wondered what was going through Rowan’s head after last night.

Rowan merely grunted in response.

---

The junkyard was a few blocks away from the safehouse where the Scions had been staying for the last few days, and was a relatively unassuming spot - one of several of its kind in this part of the city, where abandoned cars and appliances came to die. Regularly filled by a backdrop of clattering and crashing as cranes sorted through the scrap and crushers compacted it ready for recycling, it was a perfect spot for a spar that was likely to cause a lot of noise to go unnoticed.

The three men had come to stop in a clear area near the centre of the yard, where great heaps of twisted metal and rusting vehicles formed miniature mountains kept them out of the view of prying eyes.

Jason paced across the open area, undoing the buttons of his shirt and tossing it aside as he walked. “For your sake, we’ll fight this out in human form,” he called across to Gabriel. Whilst he would undoubtedly have a greater advantage whilst shifted, there was no guarantee that he’d be able to restrain himself enough to avoid killing Gabriel if it reached that point. And no matter how much the old wolf had angered him, Jason didn’t want him dead. If nothing else, because it would weaken the pack.

“That’s courteous of you.” Gabriel’s smile was so thin it was almost absent, as he stretched his limbs, rolling his shoulder and neck with a series of joints popping. He didn’t complain, primarily for two reasons. The first was the difficulty of working his craft while changed, while the latter was Jason’s own bloodlust. He well knew of the havoc the younger wolf could wreak, and while he was confident in his ability to use that rage against him, his stamina on the other hand could not maintain such a stalemate.

He glanced to Rowan as he rolled up his sleeves. “Anything you want to add, Rowan?”
 
As written by Script, Lobos, and Knosis

The man was fully dressed by this point, though his hair was still a mess. He puffed on another cigarette quietly.

“You know the rules.” He said. “First one unable to fight further, loses the challenge. However..” He looked at both Jason and Gabriel and then released a sigh. “You both have abilities that you use. Don’t kill each other. Enhance your fighting only. Gabriel, no fucking one shot magic jumbo. Fight as fair as this can be.” He paused and sat on the hood of one of the beat up cars.

“Other than that, knock each other’s brains out. Get it out of your system before I have to kick both your asses.”

Jason nodded his head, cracking his knuckles and turning his focus fully on Gabriel. “Then let’s fucking do this,” he snarled, starting forwards to close the gap between the two of them in a few swift strides. He brought his arms up in a guard as he drew close, but wasted no time in lunging forwards with a low jab for Gabriel’s stomach, the veins in his right arm flaring with a faint ruby glow as he did.

Turning with a slight nod, Gabriel wasted no time in channeling power to his hands, crouching slightly as he kept his hands open, letting Jason come to him, intently watching the younger wolf’s shoulders. As the lunging jab came, he sidestepped swiftly to the outside of his arm, jabbing a straight open palm for Jason’s outstretched wrist. Agitating the energy that buzzed almost imperceptibly around it, it was a blow meant to probe at the other’s development, only about as potent as a quickly vibrating sheet of sandpaper. He kept his other arm close, coiled warily.

The younger wolf pulled back his arm as quickly as he’d struck, but Gabriel’s palm and the magic it carried scored a glancing brush along the side of his fist as he pulled it back. The buzzing energy was painful, but beyond leaving the skin of Jason’s hand a little raw, otherwise inflicted no obvious damage. Not sacrificing any momentum, even as he was pulling his first jab back, Jason turned into a higher swing towards Gabriel’s face, intent on pushing the limits of the older wolf’s speed and forcing him to keep dodging until he slipped up.

Keeping his most of his attention to the focal point of Jason’s movement kept the shift in target from connecting, this time going low and forward. Feinting a jab at Jason’s midsection, Gabriel dipped lower and whirled, pushing extra force behind his already powerful kick as he swept the ball of his heel at the side of Jason’s knee.

The force of the kick was enough to force Jason to stumble slightly to the side, but he kept his footing, the impact something akin to kicking a thick block of iron. As soon as he recovered his balance, the younger wolf launched himself towards the still-rising Gabriel, tackling him and throwing them both to the ground, using his superior bulk to pin Gabriel beneath him.

Caught amid rising, Gabriel curled forward, reaching for Jason’s waistband and shoulder, grunting with the impact as he straightened and heaved upwards with explosive force, trying to apply momentum to his strength to hurl Jason off and overhead.

The combination of his own momentum and Gabriel’s heave of strength was enough to hurl Jason past the older werewolf, and he landed heavily. The impact barely made him flinch, however, and he was quick to continue with the roll and push himself back to his feet, dirtied but still unbloodied. Once more, he started forwards without so much as stopping to catch his breath, throwing another downwards jab towards the side of Gabriel’s head- but this one was a feint. It was followed a split second later by a swift high kick towards the other’s side.

The roll of his shoulders showed the shift in weight, even as Gabriel stepped forward and pushed aside at Jason’s jab, his eyes narrowing as the veteran stopped probing. As he pushed closer to Jason carrying him inside the short arc of his kick to take it from the thigh instead of the foot, he struck out with his other hand for the abdomen, fingers locked straight and wreathed in a dense weave. It wasn’t a jab, but a stabbing thrust aimed at the kidney, and his focused energy was to facilitate a piercing wound straight into one of the body’s most nerve filled organs.

Although the magic-wreathed jab drew the first blood of the fight, breaking the surface and digging into Jason’s lower chest, the strike didn’t sink in perhaps as far as Gabriel would have expected. The flesh around the strike was pulsing with the same ruby glow that ran through his veins, as though the younger werewolf’s body was adapting to the pressure to halt the puncture after only a few centimeters. Jason’s blood burned unnaturally hot where it spilled onto Gabriel’s hand, and with only a snarl to acknowledge the pain, Jason made to grab his wrist before he could retract it, holding Gabriel in place for his free hand to make another forceful swing for the man’s face.

Gabriel’s teeth gritted as the shockingly searing blood flowed, but he didn’t retract his hand as it was seized. Folding his fingers downwards, he prayed that Jason’s ability and strength of grip would work against him as he pulled hard, trying to add momentum to his knee strike rising for Jason’s groin, wreathing it in a scintillating weave of raw force. Turning and tossing his head as he saw the fist coming, he took it with a glancing blow that nonetheless sent his head ringing, skin tearing as the younger wolf’s knuckles caught and dragged hard.

Feeling the knee coming more than seeing it, Jason reacted instinctively quickly to protect himself from the incoming knee, swivelling one leg to catch the blow against his outer thigh instead. It was still a powerful blow, and despite his resilience, it left his balance shot. In an attempt to prevent Gabriel taking advantage of it, Jason kept his grip on the man’s wrist and grasped the man’s shoulder as he retracted his punch, turning into an improvised throw that utilised his greater strength and mass to pull Gabriel from his feet and down to the ground, then following him down to land on him with an elbow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gabriel felt himself being lifted, recognizing what Jason was intended as he felt his body angle. Shoving with his knee against the other man, he pushed his lower body away and hit the ground on his feet. Reaching to grab his upper arm with the arm whose shoulder Jason held, the veteran snatched at his waistband with the hand at his wrist. It was true that the younger wolf was physically stronger than he was. But Gabriel was also Aanar, and strength was not a trait he lacked. Should both of his holds be attained, he would bend slightly as though with the effort of straining against Jason, then straighten and twist with an earsplitting roar to heave Jason’s bulk and and over his head, throwing himself backwards to guide Jason’s head all the way to the ground.

Jason had no intent of giving Gabriel the chance to lift him. Whilst his attempt at dragging Gabriel down had failed, it had turned out to preserve his balance all the same, ending up just causing the two men to switch places. Even as Gabriel was grabbing at his waistband Jason wrenched his arm backwards, disrupting the older wolf’s grip and hopefully jerking him forwards, only to bring that same arm forwards again in an attempt at a brutal gut punch.

His grip on Jason’s arm slid free, the elbow knocking his hand down and back towards him, Gabriel realized where that fist was aimed. Acting on instinct, he released his other grip and pushed himself to Jason’s other side, pivoting on his grounded foot to take the blow grazing along his abdomen. His own arm cocked back already, he simply twisted back towards the younger wolf, launching a powerful hook for his nose, wreathing his fist in raw power as he had his knee but moments earlier.

Jason’s nose broke with the impact of Gabriel’s fist, crunching audibly as his head snapped back - but only a few inches. Searing hot blood streamed from his nostrils, but beyond the forced motion of the strike, the younger werewolf didn’t flinch from the pain. His face twisted in a grimace of anger, and in the window of time that Gabriel might have expected him to spend recovering from the brutal punch, he took another swing of his own - mirroring Gabriel’s swing for the face with his own flare of power. The veins along his arm flashed ruby, and his hand was wreathed with that same luminous energy as he struck.
 
As written by Lobos, Script, and Knosis

Grimacing at the hot blood as it washed over his hand, Gabriel followed through with a knee strike to the groin, enhanced with an energy aura, as he turned his head at the last moment, taking a grazing strike from Jason that ripped shallow furrows across his cheek and temple as it glanced from his skull, shaking his head with a slight daze as the younger wolf began to lift him from his feet.

Still aware enough to recognize the threat, Gabriel flailed his weight backwards to hit the ground on his feet, snatching at Jason’s arm to gain the leverage of his own to attempt to hurl him overhead with his own strength. An attempt that was foiled as Jason snapped his arm back for an underhand blow, knocking the Aanar’s hand back and down.

Using the opportunity to coil his own arm back, Gabriel used Jason’s grip to spin himself away from a direct hit, a fist dragging across his midsection, feeling ribs creaking and groaning as the monstrous strength of the younger wolf rippled across him with the narrow evasion. Pivoting back, he struck Jason with a solid blow to the face, his nose breaking under the power-wreathed right jab. Merely offering a grimace of rage, Jason drew back before launching his fist into a wicked left hook, the unnatural crimson radiance of his veins shining brightly as the shell of power around his fist for the side of Gabriel’s head.

Gabriel wreathed his next word in all the power he could muster, channeling furiously without the usual guide of incantation or hand gestures, a single concept poured into an outcry. A bellowed command, spittle flying from his lips.

“Hold!”

The effort left him momentarily shaking, drained as he wrenched backwards sharply, hoping that the spell turned command held true, if only for moments.

Jason’s fist stopped in midair, as the powerful magic gripped his body and drew his swing to a halt. His face twisted in anger, a snarl escaping his lips as he struggled against the compulsion, arm shaking in the air and flashing with erratic pulses of ruby. For all his brute strength, though, the spell held him - for the moment. As his anger and adrenaline built against the restraining curse, however, it became clear it wouldn’t for long.

Gabriel wrenched his arm loose, shoving hard against the quivering Jason to topple him. Sparing him a cold, knowing glare, he turned to Rowan, offering a shrug. “I yield. There wasn’t going to be another outcome with my hands tied behind my back, pissing the day away on a fist fight when you know I have other talents.”

Jason hit the ground, still largely motionless, but barely a moment later his body jerked back into motion as he forced his way through the magical paralysis, fist completing its swing to slam into the concrete ground with a crack that left a small crater at the point of impact. The younger wolf pushed himself to his feet with a furious snarl, fully ready to continue the fight, but pausing for just the barest moment to await Rowan’s input.

It was a yield, but did it mean anything? There was no respect in Gabriel’s words. No admittance of fault, no bowing of his head. He might be yielding in words, but there was no yielding of spirit here. And that was what mattered to the wolf that was frothing at the bit to be unleashed on this bitch of a witch, to hell with his ‘other talents’.

The alpha was leaned back against another junker, his eyes lazed upon the pair as though he’d rather be elsewhere. Truth be told, there were other places he’d rather be, but for other reason other than he was simply bored.

In a rare moment, the leader was conflicted. Uncertain as to how he should step forward from here. Both his former and his current second had talents, skills that were useful to keep close. Things that he could use. Both were undoubtedly loyal, both had shown as much. Gabriel had the brains and experience, Jason had the brawn and the recklessness.

And even if Rowan made a choice one way or another, the either wasn’t going to respect the other.

Rowan grunted as he sat back up, pulling a cigarette out of his pack. His blue hues glowed slightly with the energy the pair gave off. He would have to play this carefully.

“Rules are rules. If this were a normal case, Jason would easily remain my second in command. But this isn’t a normal case, and rule are in place to be broken on occasion. Hear me out before your pants get twisted any more.” He said, exhaling a plume of smoke.

“I’m going to level with both of you. Both of you have been loyal to me and have earned the respect and fear of what it means to be a Scion’s second in command. Jason, you’ve stuck by me and followed my every command without question for years now. I’ve never doubted you to get the job done.”

He turned his gaze to Gabriel. “You took the bullet for me without question, and returned ready to serve me again. That kind of loyalty does not go unrewarded..” He took another draft on his cigarette. “You both have your talents, and you have your flaws. I need both of you, especially walking into this war, to be capable of being where and what I need you to be, when I need you to be there. You complement each other well, even if you two don’t see it right now.”

“Both of you are going to hold the same position, my left and right hand. You will respect one another, and if, in the rare chance you two are placed together on whatever task I put you on with other pack members and there are questions on pecking rank, then you come to me. No bickering, no squabbling. That shit is going to give the Bloodstones an in to shit on us.”

He paused for a moment. “Understood?”

Gabriel kept an even face, not thrilled, but acknowledging with a nod. Sighing, he rolled his shoulders. “I’ve got it, Rowan.”

Turning to Jason, he scowled a moment, before offering a wry smile and an outstretched hand.

Jason did a far worse job of disguising his ire at the decision, his face twisting in a barely contained snarl. Clenching his fists, he glowered across at Rowan. “That’s not…” he started to growl, but then bit his tongue. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. This wasn’t what he’d earned. He’d taken his place fair and square, and defended it just the same. And it was all for nothing. It wasn’t enough. He deserved it, but it was being tugged out from under him. Different but equal, his ass.
All of this indignant anger passed across Jason’s face in a few tense moments, before he let out a furious growl, turning his head away whilst his veins continued to throb with the ruby light that betrayed his internalised rage more surely than any expression could. “Sure,” he grunted through gritted teeth. “Understood.”

He didn’t return Gabriel’s smile, meeting it only with a scowl, and when he grabbed his hand it was with barely a hint of camaraderie. He’d been told this was how it would be, and so this was how it would be. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he’d follow Rowan’s orders.
For now.

Rowan eyed the pair, though his gaze lingered on Jason the longest. No answer he was capable of giving would have been the right one. Internally he sighed as he pulled himself off the junk he’d propped himself on and walked between the pair, feeling a slight chill as he did so.

This decision was only temporary, he told himself. It is for the war he had to have two strong sides he could count on. A slight growl rose in his throat as he realized what he was doing. This is what would get him killed. This would be what got him usurped.

Rowan’s fists clenched and on the whim, he immediately spun and aimed to clock Gabriel square in the chin.

Carefully watching Jason, recognizing the crimson streaking as the risk it posed, the older werewolf only caught the motion from the corner of his eye. Head snapping to the side from the blow, searing pain racing through his jaw, he released Jason’s hand on reflex as he staggered back. Glancing back as he worked his mouth, probing for all his teeth with his tongue, he noted the Scion leader and raised a brow quizzically.

“I suppose I deserved that,” Gabriel murmured as he straightened. “I apologize for the issues I’ve failed in handling in my absence, and those I created on my return.”

He dipped his head, keeping his gaze lowered.

Jason’s focus was more on Rowan than it was on his new counterpart, and so he caught the clenching of Rowan’s fists in the moments before he swung. He tensed slightly, half anticipating the coming blow to be directed at him for his obvious dissatisfaction. When Gabriel was struck instead, he huffed a half-laugh.

Turning away again as the older wolf murmured his obeisance, Jason took a few paces, sticking his hands in his pockets. The ruby in his veins continued to pulse, but dimmer now, more slowly, as he took deep breaths to reign himself in. Once he trusted himself to speak again, he cast a look over his shoulder. “So, now what?”

Rowan straightened, clenching and unclenching his fist for a moment. “Jason. I’ve made a few calls to parts of the pack that I’ve got out of the area as runners. They should be on their way in. I need you to make sure they’re found before the Bloodstones and bring them to the next hideout. We’ll use the larger warehouse on the east side. Start moving the pack that way. Once that’s done, send out scouts to see if we can catch scent where the dogs are hiding. Preferably newer faces. I also want you to start putting dealers out on the streets of our new location.”

“Gabriel, you stick with me for a bit. I need to catch you up on what’s going on. Come on back with me to the old hideout.”

And with that he started back.

Nodding once to Rowan, then again to Jason with acknowledgement, the older wolf fell in step behind Rowan, working his jaw a moment.
 
As written by Knosis & Lobos

Back at the hideout, Rowan led Gabriel into his room. The place was trashed, with tables upturned and one completely shattered against the far wall. The wall in question, looked in tatters from the impact.

From somewhere in the dark, Rowan pulled two mostly functionable chairs and sat one down in front of Gabriel, the other he swung around sat on it backwards with a sigh.

“Where to begin..” He sighed, reaching into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes, only to find he’d forgotten them. “God dammit…” He grumbled.

Twisting the chair around, Gabriel settled over it, leaning against the back as he fished around his back pocket for a somewhat crumpled box of smokes. Seeing Rowan’s dilemma, he offered one first before tapping one out to pull free between his lips.

“Not your usual, but…”

The man shrugged.

Rowan shrugged as well, accepting the offered cigarette and lighting it.

“Well. I guess I’ll start with what’s going on.” He said, exhaling a bit of smoke from his nose.

“So you know the shits down town, the Bloodstones?” He grunted, knowing he would remember. “Well. One of them decided to turn rat and come directly to me with information regarding them. Information that could have landed a heavy blow on that pack of mutts. So I used it to my advantage. He told me the son of a bitch, Baron, had a really bad reaction to silver. So we pushed the turf, with all the wolves I had carrying a weapon or three with silver in it.”

“I nearly had him.” He took another drag on the cancerous stick. “Then, out of the fucking blue, his brother shows up. The bastard’s been out of the city for ages, and all of a fucking sudden he’s here.” Rowan’s blue hues glowed brightly in the dark. “We’ve got a rat of our own, it appears.”

He paused. “I don’t know if Baron’s dead or not. I can neither confirm or deny it. If he is alive, it's by the slightest of hairs. But they’ve gone into deep hiding. I can’t find them now.”

A murmured word and a slight gesture, Gabriel lit his own, taking slow drags as he listened to Rowan’s recounting, gusting a stream a smoke at the bad news. “Luck that bad isn’t unheard of, but we’ll have to do some prodding to see if we’ve got a snake around. Baron’s brother, though, that’s...interesting.”

He mused a moment, tapping the wood of his seat. “I’m assuming the brother’s got us holding off from smoking Baron out? Or did we take some damage back?”

Rowan sighed. “We didn’t have much numbers to begin with, to be honest. Had to make an.. Unconventional deal with vampires.” He almost sounded a bit sheepish. Almost.

“We lost quite a few of our senior ranking members.” But he shrugged. “But it also hasn’t stopped us from looking. We’ve not been able to catch wind of them.” He said. “Where ever they are, they’ve hunkered down hard.” He muttered.

“Tried pulling it out of my rat as well. You can probably guess how that went down.” He grunted.

“Well, it was a good shot. They’ll be on the defensive for a while, which gives us time.” He shrugged, looking thoughtful. “Could do some headhunting for fresh meat, get some revenue streams working again. I’ll see if I can’t get some news out of the local witches.”

“Which vampires, anyways?” Gabriel queried.

“Batu’s group.” He said quietly. “Seemed a bit sketchy. But apparently they were looking for protection.” He muttered.

“He’s now in arms about some house catching wind of their involvement.” He shrugged slightly. “I also have made a deal with a devil. Do you happen to remember the name of House Caeruleum? The one that the church did away with nearly.. 50 years ago now?”

He puffed on his cigarette. “Apparently, one still lives.”

Gabriel frowned as he tried to recall details of the House. “The name rings some bells. I do remember that the church was very thorough with dismantling that one. Surprised to hear it come up again.”

“I’ll try to catch up with them later, if I’ve got the time. Any priorities to be looking at for the immediate future?”

The older wolf punctuated his question with another stream of smoke.

The man sighed and ran a hand through his salt and peppered hair. “Too much needs looking at for..” He muttered honestly. “I’m trying to keep business running as usual while pulling in all the runners to help with the war I’ve started. I need fresh blood. And then there’s the damned deal I made. There is a new product we’re pushing. Supposed to make you want to fuck. Also suppose to make you feel better than any other drug on the market currently. But the shit looks like someone took sludge from a tar-pit and threw it in a bottle. From the reports I’ve gotten back about it, shit works. But it’s getting past the looks that’s the problem. And it’s not selling hardly.” He looked up at Gabriel. “I don’t recommending testing this stuff though. Anything you think you might be able to do with any of that?”

“Can look at it, see if I can tie a glamour on it, or failing that, the bottle itself. Shouldn’t be too challenging, just gotta make sure I’m not going to add a twist that’ll make it blow someone’s head off. Give me a couple days, I’ll see what I can manage.” Gabriel grinned suddenly. “Then I can throw some kickstarters with the first distribution, get the talk flowing. Should be easy enough, since it’s just messing with some heads to chat more than usual.”

Rowan grinned slightly. Not a malicious grin, or one of those ‘I’m about to kill you’ grins. But one of those rare smiles that was genuine in nature. He chuckled slightly. “That would help tremendously.” He said, slightly relieved. “Despite all that’s happened tonight, I am glad you’re back, Gabriel.” He said. He then added, much quieter than before. “Jason’s a good kid. Really is. And what he is, he’s good to have around for when I need muscle. But he’s.. He’s not good with the business end of things.”

He sighed again. “Tried that once. He did get the deal. But only after he intimidated the client to the point they were afraid to ask for anything else.”

Shrugging, Gabriel dropped his spent cigarette and twisted his foot over it. “I suppose in a way, we complement each other. Direct versus subtle.”

“I’ll do my best to keep out of his way for a week, then I’ll try to get with him, have a calm chat over coffee or some shit like that. I’ll admit, I should’ve sniffed the air a little more before I just waltzed back in.” Sighing, he extended a hand towards Rowan. “Good to be back, and glad to see your still handlin’ things.”

The leader took the man’s hand firmly and shook it. “Eh, should at least have telephoned me. I’m sure you could have gotten it from someone on the inside. Probably would have eased half the issues.” He muttered. “There is one other thing. There is a problem you caused, that I want you to keep ears out though. That woman from last night..” He frowned. “I want you to follow her a bit. Or at least get someone to follow her. Probably for a few months.” He said quietly. “You caused the issue..” He grinned, but this time there was a bit of maliciousness hidden in it. “You can sort it out for me.”

“Oh, her.” Gabriel mock groaned. “Wherever will I find the time?”

Chuckling, Gabriel waved it off. “I’ll take care of it. Meant to do some probing on that front for business reasons anyways. Pretty sure she’s a mage of some kind, and might have a few things I can trade to chat and learn something useful. Think you might have sired a bastard?”

Rowan snorted. “With as long and hard as we went? Probably. She intends to keep it. I want to see to it that she doesn’t..” He frowned. Something about the possibility of a sire had always troubled him. “I think you’re right. She was saying something about being a druid, I think. Probably should speak to Aylsa. She was the one who brought her in. So she’ll most likely know where to find her.”

“Gotcha. We’ll see how that goes. Alysa’s the fidgety one, right?” The man popped up an eyebrow.

“Yeah. If she’s not close by, Jason’s probably got her so give it a bit of time. She’ll show up.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Or you can text her on these damned contraptions. Her number is in there somewhere.”

“I’ll catch up with her. I’ll probably need to get one of those things in the next couple of days. Oh well. Plenty of stuff to do, so we’ll call my week busy.” He laughed.

Rowan nodded. “I’m fucking starving.” He muttered, standing up. “Let’s go get some food. My treat this time.” He said. “Need to call it a personal day anyway. Probably need to say I caught the flu when I finally get back to about half a million missed calls from yesterday.”
 
As Written by Faithy and Knosis

Earlier...

Alysa per Jason’s instructions hadn’t budged an inch from where she was crouched. Her back was against the wall while her red locks draped across her shoulders. Knees were nestled tightly against her chest and both arms were currently draped around her legs, keeping her tucked nice and tight. “How long am I supposed to wait anyways?” She muttered, rocking a little on her heels while watching a few spiders scurrying here and there, making webs and catching delicious little flies to munch on.

There was a creaking sound as the door slowly swung open, and a young man that looked to be in early twenties cautiously peeked around the corner. He looked a tad lost and uncertain. “Uh.. Hello?” He asked. He was a little odd looking. For starters, his hair was so fair, it was nearly white. He wore a white trench coat that looked impeccable despite the nasty weather outside. And his eyes..

His eyes looked blood red.

He looked about and caught sight of Alysa crouched down. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t think squatters could get into this place.”

The moment her ears picked up the sound of the creaking door, her head snapped over towards where she assumed someone would be rounding the corner. Her luck, that someone would be someone she didn’t want to see, but it wasn’t like she could magically make Jason disappear. However, when her emerald eyes fell upon a figure that wasn’t familiar to her, she shifted a little to prepare for an attack. Squatter? Surely she didn’t look that trashy, did she? Peering down at the black shirt she was currently wearing along with a simple pair of jeans, Alysa decided she was dressed too fancy to be a squatter, especially with the silver zipper running up the front of the shirt, the top showing off the top of her breasts. Sliding up, her head cocked to the side and she just studied the stranger.

“Not a squatter. The name’s Alysa. You are…?” She questioned, slowly moving over towards the white haired male.

The white haired man eyed Alysa over with a raised brow. “Didn’t get the memo that we kept prostitutes in the hideouts now either.” He rubbed the back of his head, ignoring her question. “Is Gabriel or Rowan around?”

“Excuse the fuck out of you. Rowan’s busy and Gabriel just got back today and is having a pissing match with Jason. Who the hell are you?” Alysa felt her anger rising just a little, but managed to keep it under lock, not wanting to maul someone that knew of Rowan and Gabriel.

The man raised his hands apologetically. “Easy, easy there.” He laughed nervously. “I’m Sebastion. If you’re not a squatter, and you’re not a prostitute, then you’re most likely one of the newer recruits. Sorry about that. Last time I was here, we didn’t have girls that looked like uh.. Well, you know..” He shrugged. “Sorry. Anyway, if he’s busy…” He quickly changed the subject. “Then perhaps you could show me around town for a bit? I’ve not been here in ages. And I’m starving. Had to kinda sneak back into the city.”

Calming back down, Alysa made a mental note not to wear this shirt around the pack again. She didn’t want others to think she was a prostitute, though if anyone else said that to her, she would have trashed them. Her head bobbed a little in deep thought before just grinning a toothy smirk. “Sure, Sebastien, I’d love to show you around the town. Sneak back in? Why?” she mused, moving over closer to him, studying him yet again before shrugging.

“I’m sure we can find something to put in your stomach.”

“That’s the ticket, love.” He said, clapping his hands before wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He smelled like fresh peppermint and some pine up close. “As for why, well. That’s a secret, but I’m not exactly welcome here by the P.D. No matter. Off for the search of grub!” He proclaimed, leading her through the door.

Unable to deny that Sebastien smelled good, Alysa shifted her head a little to inhale his scent the moment he wrapped his arm around her. His explanation wasn’t much, but who was she to pry into his life or business? Shrugging off that thought, the redhead moved out of the door with him, hoping they didn’t run into any trouble or the police. “Well, the police here are pretty stupid, so that shouldn’t stop you from coming back. I’m sure Rowan has a lot to go over with you once he’s finished. A lot has happened.”

The man frowned a tad for the first time, and his playful demeanor disappeared for the briefest of moments. “Yeah, so I’ve heard.” He said quietly. “He called me back, said things went down, but he’d explain when I got in. Has to be very serious for him to call me into service.” He said quietly.

But just as quickly as it had faded, he was back to smiling playfully. “But it can wait. I’ve got a pretty lady to escort me and feed me. Its got to be my lucky night!” He nearly sqweed.

“Went down is putting it mildly. But, I’ll let him go into that crap, it’s too depressing and upsetting to talk about it before mealing.” Alysa grinned, at his playful smile, knowing that it was something he probably utilized to keep people at bay, which was fine with her, for the moment.

“Yeah, let’s get going already. What are you in the mood for?” She queried, head tilting off to the side as she studied him yet again.

They stepped out, the street lamps casting their faint glow on the sidewalks. It was a tad chilly and felt as though it was threatening to rain at any point. “Honestly..” He took out his wallet. “Something that will feed us a lot for very little. I’ve only got a little bit of this currency on me currently. Not sure when I’ll get to exchange it either…”

He pulled out the bills, which seemed to be several $100 bills. He seemed to be confused. “Think this will be enough to buy us food? I think this is equal to about half a meal from where I come from…” He said, a tad sheepish.
 
As Written by Faithy and Knosis

Staring down at the money, she just blinked and glanced up towards him, not sure if he was being serious or not. Wanting to keep from hurting his feelings, Alysa just patted his arm and smiled brightly. “That ought to be enough,Sebastien . Really, if not, I can pony up the rest.” She smiled again, leaning over against him before realizing she was being overly touchy feely.

“Err, sorry. You can just shove me away if I’m too much.” Alysa glanced around, turning the corner with him to head towards where the restaurants were located.

His smile broadened. “Really? You’d do that?” He stuffed the cash back into his wallet. “Well, then. I’ll pay ya back with interest when I get it if you need to pay anything.” He blinked at her apology and pulled her closer. “Nah, love. It’s a tad chill, and I’m sure I’m probably like a bloody inferno.” He winked cheerfully. “You’re always welcome on my arm.”

“Hrm. I have a feeling that you would like a couple of drinks with our meal? Got a good place that has nice booze too?”

Alysa relaxed almost immediately, glad that he didn’t mind that she was cuddled up close against her. In fact, when he pulled her back against him, she grinned brightly. “Yes, you are like an inferno, but it’s definitely welcome. I think my jacket is somewhere inside, but I’m not about to go back in and get it.” Did she want a drink? That definitely sounded good, especially after the past few days.

“Somewhere that has booze? I think I can manage that.” Alysa knew she wouldn’t ask him for the money back, not unless she was desperate, but she was glad he was willing to pay her back.

He blinked and stopped, pulling away from her for a moment, unbuttoning his jacket slowly. He pulled it off to reveal a black turtle necked sweater underneath that fit his form perfectly. He then wrapped it about her shoulders. “There.” He said as he pulled her back close. His jacket carried a good bit of the peppermint scent.

“Lead the way, love. You’re my life line tonight.” He grinned.

Alysa almost asked if she said something wrong when he pulled away, but her words froze in her mouth when he draped his jacket around her shoulders. The warmth was welcome and she nestled back against her as they started to walk down the street yet again. She made yet another mental note to ask him why he smelled so strongly of peppermints, wanting to ask when it wasn’t as awkward. It didn’t take them long to reach a shady looking establishment, the outside windows were darkened and the grey door had a single window near the top with the name, ‘The Barracuda’ above it. Pushing it open, she stepped inside, letting her eyes adjust to the dingy atmosphere and the low lights. Moving with him over to a corner booth, she slid in, hoping this place was good enough. “This place sells almost anything and more importantly, has booze.”

He slid into the opposite side of the booth with a grunted sigh. His boyish smile had not faded at all. “Awesome!” He cried enthusiastically. The waitress did not take long to follow them to their table. “Can I get you some drinks?” She asked. Sebastion nodded. “I’ll take two rum and cokes, please to start. And whatever the lovely lady wants.” He gestured over to Alysa.

He took up the menu and looked over quickly. “I’ll also take two of these appetizers, though, please.”

Taking the menu from the waitress, she mused a moment before nodding, having made up her mind about a drink. “I’ll take a whiskey over rocks and a kamikaze, please.” Alysa ordered before peering over to see what appetizers that he ordered. She wasn’t that hungry, so decided to pass on ordering one for herself, knowing she could steal something off his plate if she needed to. “No appetizers for me.” Watching as the waitress wrote down their orders before moving away, she returned her attention towards Sebastien.

“So, how long have you been around anyways?” She questioned, making a slight face.

He tilted his head. “For the bossman? Hrm.” He scratched his chin. “Probably have been in with him since before he was the bossman. Never did care much for me though. Decided it was better for my health to take up a runner job than stick in town.” He said. “Pay’s better that way anyway, and I don’t have authoritative figures breathing down my neck all day. Just gotta make sure I meet quota, and alls right as rain.”

“How about you? I don’t remember you from before I left, so you’re at least a fresh face since I’ve been in.”

By runner, he must’ve meant drugs, which made a lot of sense to her, but it still had to be a lonely gig. She twirled her finger around the menu, still trying to figure out what she wanted before releasing a deep sigh. Alysa blinked at the question and rubbed her finger against her forehead before dropping it back down to flip through the menu. “Eh, when I was around five, my father was brutally slaughtered and I bailed from home. I was found about that time by the boss and taken into the pack. Been with them ever since.” She shrugged a little, still feeling no remorse for her father’s death.

His smile drooped a tad. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up terrible memories.” He said. “Well. At least you’re here now. That’s what matters, right?” He grinned again.

At this point, the waitress brought the drinks and appetizers. Sebastion ordered at least three entrees. “You want anything?” He asked.

“Oh, those memories aren’t terrible at all. That fucker deserved exactly what he got. He put a hit out of my mother and I before I was even five… got her killed. The only person in my life that understood me and loved me for me.” Alysa paused when the waitress appeared, it clear she was growing angry the more she thought about her father. Taking a final look at the menu, she ordered a 72 oz steak and fries and called it good. “Just the steak and fries, please.” She picked up her kamikaze and downed before cocking her head to the side.

“And another three of these.”
 
As Written by Faithy and Knosis

The waitress nodded and left with the orders. The white haired man raised a brow. “Then I hope he rots in hell. No one should ever have to grow up without a mother who cares for them.” He took a sip of one of his drinks before standing and moving over to her bench. He gently scooted in beside her and wrapped a protective arm around her in a small hug.

“I’ll make sure no one hurts you that way again. I’m sure you can take care of yourself well enough. But it’s always nice to have backup, eh?” He grinned.

His expression fell slightly. “I can understand though.” He said, his voice lowered. “I too was abused as a child. Never was good enough. My brothers, they were perfect. But I was the runt, and I was never enough. One day, when I was 10, my parents decided to give me a special day. They took me to this city, and showed me the sights and sounds. Gave me candy and icecream. They had never done that before. I should have realized it was all a fabrication.” The arm leaning against the table clenched a fist.

“Next thing I know, I turn around.. My parents are gone. I searched for them. Everywhere. They were gone. They abandoned me in Lutetia to live or die on the streets. No one can explain that empty feeling in your stomach of having been abandoned like that. More so, by your own kin.” His red eyes seemed to spark like flames within them.

“So, you see.. We may have different stories. But us orphans? We gotta stick together, you and I.” His smile returned, although not all the sadness left it.

When he slid to his feet, Alysa was for sure that he was going to leave her, that everything had just been a huge joke. So, when he instead came and sat down beside her after scooting her over just a bench, she didn’t quite know what to think. Her uncertainty turned into anger towards his parents, hating that they did such a horrible thing to such a young child. Frowning a little, she tugged a bit on a strand of her hair before wrinkling her nose up.
“I’m sorry they did that to you. No one should have that happen to them, especially by kin. We’re meant to trust our parents… not be betrayed and abused by them.” She paused, still tugging on the same strand.
“I can take care of myself mostly, but would appreciate the backup. I agree we orphans gotta stick together. But…” Pausing again, she frowned hard. “But, if you don’t stick around, you can’t watch my back.” Alysa nestled against him, resting her head against his shoulder.
“Ah well..” He said quietly, brushing his hand lightly on a strand of her red hair. “I guess it depends, doesn’t it? I mean, I got called in to help with whatever nasty business our blowhard boss got himself into. Who knows if I’ll be sent back out after this. Or if, I do, who’s to say you couldn’t come with me?” He gave her a reassuring look.

“But we’ll see what tomorrow brings. Ah bless her, she’s bringing the food.” He gave Alysa a quick kiss on the side of her head and a quick squeeze before he stood back up and shuffled back around to his side of the table.

The waitress had another man behind her holding the rest of the entrees and dished them out accordingly, as well as Alysa’s extra drinks. Sebastion rubbed his hands together and began to eat soon after they duo left.

“Mmm-mmm..” He muttered. “I’ve not had a good hot meal in a long while..” He said after swallowing a hefty portion of potatoes.

Go with him? Alysa just blinked at the notion, the thought of leaving Lutetia never dawning on her. But, in truth, once it was mentioned, she couldn’t help but give it a quick serious ponder. Was he serious? Before she could say anything, he was moving back to his side, the food finally arriving. Her stomach growled almost immediately and she was soon inhaling all the delicious scents. However, her mind couldn’t help but wander back to how it felt to have his fingers brushing a strand of her hair and how butterflies fluttered around when he kissed the side of her head. What the hell was happening to her?

“This smells amazing.” Downing another two of her drinks, she watched him for a moment before cutting into her steak, loving how tender the piece of meat was and how easy it was to cut. Starting to eat it as well as munch on her fries, she closed her eyes a moment, savoring each bite.

“I wouldn’t mind going with you, just so that’s clear. Who knows how long it’ll take to clean up everything that’s been happening lately. Things are a mess and well, our numbers are pretty damn low at the moment.” Alysa shrugged a little, shoving more of the steak into her mouth before forcing herself to eat more lady-like.

“Ah, I wouldn’t worry your head about numbers, love. The boss has more supporters than those in the city may know about.” He took a bite out of a bread roll he had. He chewed swiftly and swallowed it nearly whole.

“You don’t have to decide tonight either. Running is no piece of cake. You deal with a lot of lowly types that aren’t necessarily the best company. Some are worse than some of the folk in the city, the boss included. I know it may come as a surprise, but Boss man is nearly a saint compared to what’s out there.”

He took a sip of his drink, his red hues upon her. He seemed to be studying her. After a moment, he went back to eating.

“A saint?!” Alysa nearly choked on her piece of steak, head shaking a bit before she managed to swallow. Washing down the piece of meat with her drink, she wasn’t quite sure what to think of the notion of others being worse than Rowan. Then again, he did take her in when she was an orphan, so maybe he wasn’t all that bad. Exhaling, she felt his eyes on her, but went back to eating, glad when he did the same.

“I guess you’re right, but maybe I wouldn’t screw up so much if I was doing that instead of whatever I’m supposed to be doing for the bossman.” That reminded her of the job she was supposed to be doing for Rowan and how Jason would be shadowing her. “So, who was second in command when you were around?” She questioned, wanting to change the subject a bit.
 
As Written by Faithy and Knosis

This confused Sebastion a tad. “Isn’t Gabriel still second?” He asked quizzingly.

“Well… maybe he is again? I guess he was fighting Jason for that position. Jason’s been his second for a while now.” Alysa shrugged a little, shoveling more food into her mouth, hungrier than she realized.

His white brows nearly met in the middle in a deep frown as the information dawned upon him. It did not seem this news was good to him. “Huh.” He finally said, shrugging and going back to his food. “Things may get interesting then.”

He shook his head. “Let’s not talk about the pack anymore if you don’t mind.” His grinned returned slightly. “How about you? Anything you do outside the pack? Job? Friends? Romance?” He teased. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours~”

“Oh, yeah, it’s fantastic and interesting all at the same time. They’re probably fighting it out right now.” Shrugging, she was completely alright with the notion of changing the subject, not wanting to think about how she was still going to get an attitude adjustment from Rowan.

“Talking about anything else except that is fine with me. I had a friend, but I turned her and she went crazy… so, right now I guess I am on the lookout for new friends. I don’t have a job, not really, though I’m looking at working at the new animal shelter that just opened a few weeks ago. As for romance… I eh…” Alysa paused, not sure how to describe Corso. “No boyfriend at this time. I did meet this guy at a rave and we went back to his place and slept together, but he ran off after I bit him.” She turned bright red and looked down at the table, ashamed of her inability to have a boyfriend or friends.

The man continued to smile through her detailing of her life. “I’m offended I don’t count as a friend.” He said jokingly. “But a deal’s a deal. Hrm.” He tapped his chin. “I have a couple of friends, none I’ve attempted to turn mind you although none of them are really good at keeping in touch. When I’m not a runner, I work nights at a bar as the bartender there. Romance.. Last serious relationship has to be close to twenty years ago now. Of course I’ve had one or two lovers along the way, but we’d both agree that it was for the best that we kept our relationship neutral.” He shrugged slightly.

He finally finished eating and placed his fork down with a sigh. “Just doesn’t suit someone who’s never around due to a second job that puts my life and the life of those I care about in jeopardy every day. Not the greatest ways to convince someone to stay, you know?”

“Well, now that I know you, you’re definitely a friend. So, I guess I have a friend.” Poking her tongue out at him, she finished up her plate, pushing it off to the side to pat her belly. Listening to his explanation of his life, Alysa was glad that he had friends even if they didn’t keep in touch as much as he would perhaps like. Deep down, she was glad that he wasn’t in a relationship, though in truth, she doubted he would truly want to date someone like her.

“Yeah, I understand that. Though, a bartender is kind of cool. I thought about doing something like that, but spent the majority of my interview dropping the different bottles. I also can’t mix a drink worth anything.” Smirking, Alysa poked her tongue out again. “I’m a pretty good guinea pig though, so if you ever want to test something new out on me, I’m willing to take one for the team.”

“Ach, that. I could teach you. It’s all in the wrists, really. You’ll be slingin’ booze before you know it.” He finished his first drink. “As for trying out my new drinks, I wouldn’t do that to you. Usually test my own before I inflict it on other people. There are a couple I was glad I tortured myself with instead of anyone else.” He laughed.

The waitress came back. “Any room for dessert?” She asked sweetly. Sebastion perked his head slightly as if to ask Alysa silently if she wanted something.

“Well, I am willing to learn, hun.” Alysa grinned, poking her tongue out a little before tilting her head to the side when the waitress reappeared. Did she want dessert? Was the streets dirty? Yep. Her fingers ran through her hair and she grinned.

“I would love a oreo crunch cheesecake thingy, please.” Smiling, she wasn’t even sure if that was a thing, but it sounded delicious.

Sebastion waved off the offer for dessert and the waitress left them alone again. “I’ll see about giving you some lessons when we get the base back.” He grinned. “Any place in mind where we can go afterward? Like I said, I’ve not been in the city for some time. I don’t even know what’s our turf and what’s not.”

“That would be great! You don’t think I’m a pig for getting dessert do you? I rarely go out anymore, especially since I umm… ruined a friend and well, I haven’t had junk food in a while. Not since that chocolate bar earlier that I ate earlier… or yesterday, not sure when exactly. Anyways… I am sure we could find somewhere else in our turf to go. I think the casino is closed, but honestly, not even sure about that.” Alysa realized she was rambling and just smacked the side of her face, wishing she wasn’t so damn awkward.

“You’re cute when you ramble.” He said, leaning his chin on his palm.

“I don’t think you’re a pig. I wouldn’t ever think that of anyone, to be honest. Sometimes we need a little bit of sugar to make our day a bit better.” He said reassuringly.

“The casino is definitely closed though. Was the first place I looked at, and good thing they cops are busy with other things..” He murmured. “Think there’s a few night clubs I past though. Not sure if any of them are any good.”

The waitress returned with a slice of white cheesecake flaked with Oreo topping and whipped cream.

Her cheeks flushed almost immediately at his words and she bit on her bottom lip as she giggled awkwardly. Her fingers tugged a bit on her hair and she glanced over towards the waitress as she brought the dessert. It looked ravishing and she licked her lips slowly before forcing her gaze away from the yumminess over to Sebastion. “A night club could be fun. I haven’t been in any of them, so I guess we can just start with one and go to another if the first one sucks?” She questioned, head tilting a little to the side before starting to eat the cheesecake deliciousness.

“It’ll at least be entertaining to watch the drunks dancing together.” Alysa grinned, finishing her desert in just a few bites.

“Sounds like a plan if you’re okay with it.” Sebastion smiled. “Lemme go pay for the check and we can go.” He stood up and walked over to the front counter where he started talking to the waitress. He pulled out a few of the bills he had shown Alysa earlier and the waitress took them, giving him his change back.

Sebastion returned to hold out a hand to Alysa. “Ready to go?”
 
As Written by Faithy and Knosis

“Alright, it’s a da… uhh… it’s a plan.” Alysa stopped herself in the middle of her statement, realizing she just about said it was a date, when she wasn’t sure if that was what this was, though truthfully, she wouldn’t mind calling it a date. Sliding up to her feet the moment he returned to the table, she slid to her feet, taking his hand with a huge smile.

“Ready, Sebastion. Let’s get our dance on!” She was thrilled to be doing something fun and made a mental note not to let anything ruin the night.

Sebastion chuckled slightly, lifting her hand to his lips to gently kiss them before sliding his coat around her shoulders once more, walking her out into the night.

--

The walk hadn’t been very long. One of the more popular nightclubs had been a few blocks from the restaurant. The pulsing beat could be heard well before they could see it. Sebastion seemed to recognize the bouncer that was at the door, who didn’t ask as he let the pair of them in. Inside, young people danced to the beat, the lights flashing in different colors. It was nearly packed to the brim.

Sebastion hesitated for a moment before leading her through the chaos carefully. He took his jacket carefully from her shoulders. The man had to shout in order to speak over the crowd and music. “I’ll be back. Wait here! Going to put this somewhere I can find it later.” And before she could answer, he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

A dark haired man seemed to be eyeing Alysa since Sebastion left her there.

To say she was flustered about the kiss was putting it lightly, but Alysa kept her thoughts to herself during the short walk to the nightclub. Thankful for the jacket that was currently keeping her warm, she was surprised when they were able to just go through the door without being questioned. Unfortunately, it was too loud to ask, so after making yet another mental note, Alysa let Sebastion lead her into the chaos. The thudding was soon vibrating throughout her body and the ache to dance was intense.

“Yeeees.” She squealed out and leaned forward in an attempt to listen to what he was saying. Nodding at him, she watched as he disappeared into the crowd before turning back around, starting to dance by herself, quite capable at entertaining herself until he returned. Briefly she picked up on someone looking her way, but paid it no attention since the place was jumping.

The dark haired man finished his drink, and placed the empty cup on the counter. Picking his way towards the woman, the man grinned slightly. “Well, hi there. I’ve not seen you on this scene before. What’s a pretty lookin’ lady like you doin’ all alone on this lot?”

Slowly coming to a stop the moment a dark haired male appeared at her side, she tilted her head to the side a little and studied him silently. Nope, she didn’t know him, but she didn’t want to come off rude, so she leaned forward, grinning widely. “That’s because I’ve never been in here, darlin’. I’m not alone, my …” Was he her date? Friend? Co-worker? Alysa mused a moment, fingers running through her hair.

“He headed off to put his jacket somewhere. He’ll be back.” Leaving it at that, she shrugged and started dancing again, making it so that if he wanted to dance with her, he could. “But, there’s no need to rush off.”

“That’s alright, we don’t need him. We can dance together if you’d like.” He said, grinning and leaning in closer. “I’d like to get to know you a little better, sugar.” The way he said these words would make Alysa think that he wanted more than to hear her story. He inched forward, making sure she couldn’t escape past him.

“What do you say?”

Her brow arched at his words, though she didn’t shy away from him. If anything, Alysa was imagining how he would taste and wondered just how far she could take him down the rabbit hole before he realized what was happening. For now, she would let her cards drop however they needed to while waiting on Sebastion to return. “Well, love. That sounds like a great idea. What should I call you?” She cooed out her words a little, letting them drip with honey, so to speak in order to lure him into her web.

“I’m Alysa…” She added softly, mouth inches from his ear.

The man grinned. “Alysa, eh? Pretty name for a pretty lady..” He said. Drunkenness seemed to dampen his sense of filter, if he had any to begin with, as he reached around her to cop a feel.

“I think that’s quite enough.” Sebastion’s voice came from behind the drunken human. The dark haired man turned around and scowled. “What, are you her dad or something? Buzz off, buzz kill.” He shooed Sebastion with a wave. The fair haired man raised a brow. “If you’re okay with it Alysa, I won’t stop him. But I’ll be pretty lonely if you decide to spend the night with him.” He shrugged. “But I think you’re plenty capable of handling this brute.”

When the male copped a feel, Alysa felt her shoulders tensing up, the urge to be in control running rampant throughout her mind, something that was difficult when dealing with drunks, apparently. Sebastion’s voice caught her off guard and she snapped her emerald eyes towards him, thankful that he had shown up at that moment. “Thought maybe a snack or something?” She shrugged over towards Sebastion before running her fingers through her hair, pushing the locks out of her eyes.

“But, if I have to pick, I am definitely going to pick you.” She grinned over towards him before glancing back towards the drunk, wondering if it was even worth messing with him.

The white haired man raised his other brow. “I’d say he wouldn’t be very appetizing.” He grabbed the drunk man by the collar and pulled him forcibly away. He stumbled several feet and disappeared into the dancing crowd.

The tall man leaned in towards Alysa, eyeing her decisively. He seemed to study her a lot, as if guessing her. Then he leaned in closer, tilted her chin back with a finger and kissed her.

“True.” Alysa didn’t bat an eye when the drunk was sent on his way into the crowd, probably to try and hit on some other female. Pushing him out of her mind, her attention shifted back towards Sebastion and found him staring at her. Wrinkling her nose up a little, not sure what he was looking at, she rubbed her nose, making sure she didn’t have anything on it before doing the same to her face. Before she had a chance to question what he was looking at, she was caught completely off guard by the kiss. Her eyes widened as she leaned into the smooch, liking what was happening and not wanting it to stop.

Sebastion had gently pulled her closer to him, not intending to stop kissing her more passionately now. However, as he went to embrace her further, his head was snatched back by his hair and punched to so hard he was sprawled on his back on the floor. Crimson streamed down his chin as he looked up dazed at his attacker. It wasn’t the same dark haired man, but it was someone who was with him. “Yah good shot, Brute.” The drunk man punched a very large man in the shoulder.

The white haired man’s eyes glowed slightly, but it would seem he was holding back. He did not want to release his inner rage. “Alysa, could you go get my coat please? It’s in locker 219.” He tossed her a key.

The night was turning into a fairytale and while Alysa wasn’t expecting much of anything that was happening, she was very happy. Just as he tugged her closer, all hell broke lose and just like that, the fairytale was over. Her gaze shifted towards the large male and the drunk from earlier and she bit back a snarl. Just as she was about to act, Sebastion’s words caught her off guard. Deftly catching the key, she nodded with a slight frown.

“Sure. I’ll be right back.” Moving through the crowd, almost shoving them out of the way as she went to get his coast, Alysa hoped that nothing would happen while she was gone.
 
As Written by Faithy and Knosis

As soon as she was out of sight, Sebastion sprang to action. First, he rushed the one named ‘Brute’, swinging upward and catching the man’s chin square. The man grunted and let out a shout of pain, blood rushing from the corners of his mouth to indicate he’d bitten through his tongue.

At this point, they’d gotten quite a few spectators and a few more people gasped and backed away. The fair haired man ducked as darker haired one took a drunken swing at him again and again. Finally fed up, Sebastion was able to dash around the other man, and lock him into a choke hold quite easily.

As the man sputtered and tried to get away, the ruby eyed man whispered into the other man’s ear. “You will leave this place and never come back here again. Do you understand me?” He struggled to nod. Sebastion debated to keep him in this hold, to choke the life out of him, but finally relented and let him go. The drunk man rushed off, grabbed his friend by the collar and ran out of the club just as bouncers came to where they’d been fighting. “Alright, alright gentlemen, I’m on my way out.” He waved them off and started for the entrance.

By the time Alysa made it to the locker to get Sebastion’s jacket and headed towards the entrance, she missed all of the excitement. Her head tilted to the side as the large man and Mr. Drunk ran out of the club, it clear she had missed something. Shaking her head a little, she slid on the jacket, feeling the slight cool air from outside. Unsure whether or not she should wait on him or not, the redhead made her way towards where she left Sebastion only to spot him moving towards her.

“Oh, hey…” Alysa managed, smiling before glancing towards the bouncers. “I miss something?” She queried with a sly grin.

His eyes were still glowing slightly in his attempt to calm down, and his smile didn’t exactly meet those hues. He chuckled and wiped away a bit of the blood on his chin. “Ah, nothing much. We just a really nice chat, and I’m probably now banned from this place now.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Too bad really..” He said as he walked outside with her. “Rowan’ll probably not be too pleased either..” He muttered.

Her head tilted to the side a moment, studying him before just shrugging, knowing that if he wanted to leave it like that, then she would not press for the moment. Glancing back towards the club as they exited it, she frowned a little, not sure what it meant to be banned from a place, but figuring it wasn’t a good thing. “Well, Rowan doesn’t have to know, does he?” She snorted before shaking her head.

“I know, I know… Rowan knows everything. You could always just blame me. I’m already high on his shit list anyways.” Alysa shrugged a bit, snuggling up against Sebastion.

He wrapped his arm about her shoulders. “No, no.. I wouldn’t do that. Besides, I’m already on his shit list by existing. So, you know. I’m sorta used to it.” He sighed and hugged her tight for a moment. “At any rate, got any place for us to hang for tonight? I think I’m done socializing tonight.” He smiled down at her.

“Honestly, I think everyone is on Rowan’s shitlist at least once. I just seem to be on there more times than naught, but that’s okay. I’m not going to let it get me down anymore.” Poking her tongue out teasingly, she nodded her head, figuring they could just head back to her place.

“We can head back to my place if you want? It’s about sixteen blocks south of where we met.” Her brow quirked a bit as she slid her gaze up toward Sebastion, glad he was done socializing for the night.

“Sure.” His smile broadened. “Was wondering if you minded if I crashed on your couch or something as well. Don’t wanna stick around at the safe house with Rowan about, if you catch my drift.”

“Great, I figured you wouldn’t want to stick around the safe house as long as Mr. Grumpy-pants was there.” Grinning, Alysa nudged Sebastion in the ribs before flushing a little, her mind going slightly down the gutter. “You don’t have to sleep on the couch. I have a fantastically comfortable king sized bed.” Alysa flushed even more, looking away with him as they headed down the street.

He let loose a soft chuckle and hugged her again. “If that is what you wish.. I’m sure I can accommodate such an agreeable host.” He said, his meaning more than what he had expressed.

Tonight would be a most pleasurable first night back.
 
It was fairly early in the morning that Alysa and Sebastion's slumber was disturbed. Having returned from his brawl with Gabriel and blown off a bit of steam with Felix, Jason had turned his attention on to making sure Alysa was doing her job. Finding her absent from the safehouse had only restoked the fires of his anger, and so rather than calling her, he'd set out to find her himself - accompanied by a Felix who was at least mildly concerned for her health when he did. His nose had picked up her trail relatively easily, but what's more, he picked up the scent of another: an unknown werewolf.

It was an easy jump to make, given the circumstances, to assume something was amiss. And so by the time Jason reached Alysa's apartment he had gone from angrily brooding, to being on the warpath.

"Hey, so, you're... maybe there's a good explanation for all of this," Felix was saying as they climbed the stairs to the flat. The scrawnier wolf had tagged along when he heard what Jason was out for, hoping he could keep Jason from doing anything too drastic to Alysa. "So let's not, uh, y'know... go in swinging, right?"

"There's a traitor running around, and this little bitch walks out on us with some stranger the moment our backs are turned, after I told her to fucking stay put," Jason snarled. "She'll be lucky if I don't tear her throat out."

"Whoa! Okay, sure, I get it... it's real shifty, but this is Alysa, she's no traitor. Yeah, she fucks up some, but so do I, y'know?" Felix grimaced, biting his lip and drumming his fingers on his hips a moment. "Just give her a chance to explain, yeah? For me? Then if it reeks of shit, sure, you do what you gotta, but even if... Rowan'd want to see her before you do anything, like... permanent, right?"

Jason growled, clenching his fists and digging his nails in for a moment. His anger bubbled for a moment, threatening to boil over, but then he let out a heavy sigh. Felix was right. He'd keep a lid on anything too brutal for now. But that didn't mean anyone was getting out of this unscathed. "Yeah, sure," he muttered, nodding sharply. "I won't break anything that won't get better."

Relieved, Felix nodded. There was a moment where he considered saying something more, but decided not to push his luck: that was probably about as much mercy as he could hope to extract from Jason for his friend.

A few moments later, they reached Alysa's door. This was one casualty that Jason didn't give a fuck about. He wasn't about to give a potential traitor chance to climb out the window. With dismissive ease, he grabbed the handle and shoved, snapping the door's lock off with a single push. There was a loud crash as the door swung back and hit the wall, and Felix flinched, cursing under his breath at the unexpected noise.

Jason didn't pause, storming in through the hallway and making straight for the bedroom and kicking the door in. "Who the fuck is this?" he yelled as he laid eyes on Sebastion, voice as much a snarl as it was words. "And speak fast, you have five seconds before his throat is on the fucking ground."

Felix, for his part, lingered nervously in the hallway behind him, avoiding drawing attention to himself.
 
For the first time in forever, Alysa was resting peacefully against Sebastion. She no doubt had the best time of her life the previous night and wanted the happiness to last forever. Her world came crashing down the moment she heard the front door crashing open, but before she could wake up fully, her bedroom door was lying on the ground, the frame worse for wear. The anger radiating from Jason was suffocating and she snapped her gaze towards the male, snarling lightly beneath her throat.

“The fuck, Jason?! This is one of Rowan’s runners, someone that Rowan called to come back. Maybe you’d know that if you would…” Alysa trailed off, immediately regretting everything she had just said, knowing that poking an angry bear was fucking stupid. Quickly backtracking, she slid in front of Sebastion, keeping the blankets so that they were covering the both of them.

“Look, I get that I disobeyed your order, but he is not a threat. He was called in by Rowan to help out with things. He was around before us… that’s why you don’t recognize him. It’s okay… really.” Her voice was calm and she knew she had to learn to think before speaking, especially when it came to Jason and Rowan.
 
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