Avandrya v2.0

[Delilah Sterling]

(Continued from Avandrya)

Looking over at Kaly, she regarded the woman's smile for a moment before asking rather candidly, "What are you?"

The words had already left her mouth before she realized their potential rudeness, and she was grateful for the transient lighting that masked the flush of color that flooded her cheeks. "Sorry, I haven't been thinking things through very clearly this past week."

Resting her elbows on the bartop, she pushed her hands through her hair and stared disconsolately at the rows upon rows of liquor, trying to think of something to order. Her dirty martini was already warm, and if she had another one she'd likely have to be carried out of here with a bottle of Excedrin for the migraine she'd have in the morning.

"Just a beer. Newcastle if they have it."

Letting her hair go, it fell in soft layers around her face, rifts still visible in it from the dig of fingers.

She felt like she was on an emotional rollercoaster that had started in New Mexico and was getting progressively worse the farther away she got from there. A part of her wanted to cave and try to explain to Kalypsa that she wasn't usually like this, but instead, she just took a calming breath, sat up straight and placed her hands palms down on the counter.

[Kalypsa Cardei]

Kalypsa found herself laughing freely at the girls question. She liked her already. Well...as much as she could like someone in the least.

"No it's fine really, I don't mind. If I had to look at the lot of us I'd likely wonder too. I am a Succubus. An energy feeder, if you will." She smiled again. "I believe I am one of the least scary looking ones out of the bunch though." She laughed.

For as overwhelmed as she was ,moments earlier, she was feeling pretty good now. She looked at the door of the room they had just left. And took a large drink from her glass. She really hoped they didn't kill each other. She wouldn't enjoy hunting either one of them much.

In Avandrya it was illegal to kill. Weapons were not allowed in the club, and for those born with natural weapons there were other laws. If a demon killed in Avandrya or in the throuveil, be the victim human or demonic, a blood hunt would ensue. During this usually the protector, sometimes others, would hunt the offender down and be disposed of. It wasn't often that the rules were broken. Blood hunts were not a pretty thing.

Kalypsa looked back over at the girl, she looked quite distressed. She ordered the girl her beer and a refill for herself. She was debating on using her talents to help her out. She didn't know if the Seer would notice, and if she did she did not know how she would react. Kaly would put that off, for now.

"So, other than the fact that your life is upside down right now, and everything around you is hectic and potentially life threatening...how are you holding up?" She was shocked at the words as they left her mouth. Why did she care? After a moment of contemplation she decided that she was just making conversation and let it go.

[Delilah Sterling]

Despite all odds, Delilah felt herself grinning... even if it was a bit wryly.

"An energy feeder, hmm? Well that must suck."

The bartender looked at her funny when he arrived with her beer only to see her laughing almost hysterically.

"Sorry," she gasped in between bouts of giggles, taking the cold bottle from him.

"It's been a long year," she said by way of apology to Kaly, not wanting her to think she really found anything funny about her being a succubus.

"I think there was a succubus in Phoenix. She wasn't a pretty sight to see when she was angry." Which had been a good point of reference for Delilah in future encounters with succubi - don't piss them off.

The woman's question of how she was holding up was met with a shrug and a long pull from the bottle. "Peachy. Keen, even."

Tucking her hair back behind an ear, she looked out over the dance floor again and cautiously proceeded with a question. "Do you, um... do you just pick people at random, or do you have certain... requirements?"

[Kalypsa Cardei]

The girl... Delilah was laughing to the point of histarics... but at least she was laughing. She obviously wasn't OK, but if Kalypsa was in her shoes she likely would be either. She looked over the girl, really looking this time. She was young, a child in comparison to those around her. She had likely seen for to much in her short year.

... She should of ordered her a stronger drink.

Kaly couldn't help but laugh again at the girls remark and following question.

"Well, I will go after whomever strikes my fancy I suppose. But there are certain people who I always have around if I need them." She laughed at herself. "That sounds a bit whorish doesn't it? Ah, well I need what I need, this is my life. We all have our gifts and our curses."

Kalypsa's caught a flash of motion near the door that the Cedric and Ryuu were still behind. It was the waitress she had sent a couple moments ago. She looked shaken. Kaly shook her head and sighed. Things were likely not going well.

"I've never understood men much. Its all respect and power plays. Its all whose cock is bigger. Idiotic, don't you think? I miss the good old days when you could just rip the person who apposed you into pieces." She said slightly jokingly. " I do hope they don't kill each other. That might ruin my night."

[Delilah Sterling]

She could feel the nature of Kalypsa's study change and she shifted uncomfortably in her barstool, feeling every bit as young and not ready for the big bad world she'd been thrust into as the succubus was thinking she was. Not, of course, that Delilah knew what the other woman was thinking.

Visibly relaxing when Kaly laughed, a trace of a smile touched her own features. Delilah shrugged sheepishly at the suggestion of Kaly's words sounding whorish.

"I don't think so, if it's a part of what you are. Then again, I wouldn't really know either way. I'm still a..." she couldn't bring herself to say the word, so she ended up finishing lamely. "...well, you know."

It wasn't exactly a moral choice of Delilah's - if she had been born normal like most everybody else, she'd probably have been there, done that a dozen times already. There was just the small problem that she wasn't just like everybody else, and she had a bad habit of seeing things from pasts that didn't belong to her. She wouldn't want to be doing the thing with a guy and suddenly get an eyeful of him doing the same stuff with another girl, or a sheep or something.

Which made her think of the one other Seer she had met, the one who referred to herself as an Oracle. Musingly, she sipped at her beer, whatever trace of a smile there had been gone now. That woman had never mentioned seeing the past, and Delilah hadn't had enough of a chance to speak to the woman at length to ask her about it.

Kalypsa's change of subject brought her out of her internal dialogue and she too turned towards the hallway they had just come from, frowning before turning back around.

"That's what whoever's hunting us is doing though, isn't it? Ripping us to pieces."

Shaking her head, she drank deeper from the bottle than she intended to and put it down empty. "Well, if one of them kills the other than at least their power struggle will be over. What would you like to drink? I'm practically rich. The next one's on me."

[Kalypsa Cardei]

Kaly watched the emotions play across Delilah's face she would smile, the smile would disappear to be replaced by a look of uncertainty...or was it certainty. Maybe she thought that they were all going to die. After what she'd seen it was a likely conclusion to come to. But it wasn't going to happen.

"That's what whoever's hunting us is doing though, isn't it? Ripping us to pieces."

Kalypsa sighed.

"They are trying and so far have been successful. But they wont be here. I guarantee that we will be the ones doing the ripping. These hunters will not destroy my home" Rage flashed behind Kalypsa eyes.

If these hunters thought that they were going to get through this unscathed, they were wrong, and if she died during whatever was coming their way, she would be taking people down with her. She knocked back the remainder of her drink, and scowled.

"Oh, and even though we have amazing security, I would advise you to not announce your wealth so..." Kalypsa trailed off as the are around her seemed to grow colder. She looked to the entrance of Avandrya and growled lowly. The air of arrogance and egotism was unmistakable.
"Ah, why tonight?! Any other night, this is just to much." She said staring down into her empty glass, previous conversation forgotten.

"Bartender, I am going to need another of these." She said as she held up her empty glass. "Forget the juice, just the vodka."

She ran her hands over her face, donned her glasses, and waited for the inevitable. "This is just fucking lovely."

[Delilah Sterling]

The flash of anger in Kalypsa's eyes at the mere thought of anyone trying to destroy her home was passionate, and something in Delilah's soul wanted desperately to be stirred to faith by it.

Logic won out as always, though.

Even though it was useless wishing you could change the past, she couldn't help but wish she'd spent less time running and more time following, investigating, trying to understand who these killers were and what they were after.

But she hadn't, she couldn't, and she wouldn't waste another second beating herself up for the things she hadn't done. Why? Because what she HAD done was still something of note - she was alive, wasn't she?

She was about to flag down the bartender again when Kaly started to say something about security, then just stopped mid-sentence. Frowning, Delilah followed her gaze to the entrance, then looked back at the succubus curiously.

"What's so bad you need a vodka without the juice?" she asked, half laughingly, still watching Kalypsa's faces even as she nodded to the bartender's inquiry of another drink.

"A shot of Jameson's with a coke-back, please," she said to him, before shrugging. She would just have to deal with the hangover in the morning. "Since we're going all hardcore," she said to Kaly.

[Cosette Pierce]

Cosette was still livid when she had parked her car in the spacious parking lot of Avandrya. There was no way in hell she was going to be seen getting out of her car alone at the Valet. So, instead, she took the free moment to look herself over in the rear view mirror. Happy that she was as flawless as ever, she stepped out into the night.

Mentally, she was thankful that the snow was cleared off of the parking lot and it was salted heavily because she knew she would be eating pavement if it wasn’t. The shoes she wore weren’t quite right for the weather but that was the price you had to pay to be fabulous.

Straightening her dress, Cosette moved toward the entrance. She sauntered to the door and passed the slowly growing line, walking straight up to the doorman. He wasn’t a new face but she had never bothered with his name. It didn’t matter, not when you were important and the help was just that... help. But, with a glimmering smile, Cosette gave a little wink and the man let her through the door after a once over of her purse and a metal detector ran over her body.

As she entered, Cosette took a moment to look around the bar and dance floor. She was surprised to see the bitch at the bar but she gloated internally at the sour look on Kalypsa’s face when she turned back to her companion.

Snickering happily, Cosette ignored a catcall and moved to sidle up to the bar right next to Kalypsa. She even managed to bump the woman’s elbow ‘accidentally’.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she announced. Her voice just dripping with faux authenticity. Anyone within hearing range could tell that she was being facetious. “Kalypsa right? Well, how are you?”

Cosette just cast a glance at Delilah and gave her a wink.

“And who is this? Your girlfriend! I should have figured you swung that way, Kalypsa. Maybe that is why you hate me so? Because you can’t have...” Her hands moved up and down her body as if to say ‘this’.

[Kalypsa Cardei]

Kalypsa had to loosen her grip on her glass before it shattered. Normally she didn't have problems with the people in the club, but Cosette... she was another story. There was something about the girl that made her want to get very violent, very quickly. She took a nice deep breath to calm herself.

At the moment she was going over any possible loop holes she could use as an excuse for killing her, but none could be found. Instead she just had to make due with mental imagery. She could easily see herself entwining her fingers lovingly into the girls hair before just as lovingly slamming her face into the bar. The thought made her nice and warm inside. She turned to Cosette with a smile, that if not in her guise would look something like a mountain lion smiling at a rabbit.

"My dear child, I don't hate you, I would never put so much effort in to someone so...worthless." She took another drink and smiled wider. "and though I am, alas, straight. I can guarantee you that I would go after my sweet Delilah here with out giving you a second glance... or a first. Not only is she rich." She said knowing that Cosette would jump on the bait and apologizing to Delilah in her head for dragging her into this conversation. "But she actually has a personality. Now if you would excuse us, we were in the middle of a conversation."

She turned back to Delilah, smiling,and mouthing a silent sorry.

[Delilah Sterling]

For longer than she'd cared to remember, Delilah hadn't had her head wrapped around anything more than survival. She had witnessed death, destruction, violence and brutality; all of which should have been visited upon her by now. And she was very aware of the fact that she should have been dead at least four times now, and that she was only sitting here at this bar in this very moment because of a mixture of dumb luck and a refusal to stop doing whatever it took to stay alive.

So she couldn't be blamed for staring at Cosette like the woman had slapped her across the face. How could she be so petty? It was hard for Delilah to remember what it was like to be completely normal and oblivious of the demon world; the last time she'd been normal was 10 years ago.

Listening to the exchange with that slightly affronted and baffled expression on her face, she had to shake her head subtly as though to clear it.

The two obviously rubbed along like ammonia and bleach.

Her expression finally changed when Kalypsa gave her snide retort, one brow arching slightly only to lower again as she snickered lightly.

When Kalypsa turned back around to face her, mouthing the word sorry, one corner of Delilah's mouth turned up in a brief smile before her eyes slid up and down Cosette's frame in a rather condescending manner, as though to say, "Honey, you ain't good enough to polish my boots," then she looked past her boredly.

"Anyway... what were you saying?"

This was kind of fun! Granted, she wasn't usually cruel to others, but this girl had come up and started it...

[Cosette Pierce]

WHAT! That was all she could think as she stared from Delilah and back to the rear of Kalypsa’s head. How could they?! She was Cosette Fucking Pierce and no one would treat her that way. Closing her eyes for a split second so that they couldn’t see the pain wracked little girl behind her eyes, she opened them with a renewed vengeance. This was war, that is what it was.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Cosette tapped Kalypsa on the shoulder. If she turned around or not, Cosette gave the same line.

“You know, if you got off your ass more often, darling, it wouldn’t get so big. But to each their own. I guess some men like girls with junk in the trunk.”

Turning to the bartender who happened by at that moment, she ordered a strawberry daiquiri and waited for it to arrive. Looking at Delilah out of the corner of her eye as she leaned on the bar, she couldn’t help but give a patronizing smile. Hell, if the new bitch wanted to fight on the side of the old bitch, she would take them both.

When the drink finally arrived, Cosette turned to face the women once more.

“Well, good luck girls. Getting guys tonight may be a bit hard on you. I mean, afterall, I am here.”

With a final look to Kalypsa, Cosette patted the woman on the shoulder like a mother does to comfort a small child.

“Peace out, Girl Scout.” The obvious jibe was in the words Girl Scout as Cosette couldn’t understand how a woman built like Kalypsa could ever be threatening enough to be a bouncer. And with that, she ignored any coming words and walked with her drink to a table that had just been vacated. Her voice could be heard shrilly in the air as she demanded the wait staff to clear the table at which she sat.

[Kalypsa Cardei]

If Kalypsa hadn't liked Delilah before she loved her now. She could almost see the fumes pouring out of Cosette. It was fantastic. Her moment of happiness was interrupted when Cosette tapped her shoulder.

Don't break her fingers. Don't break her fingers. Don't break her fingers. She repeated the mantra slowly to herself and turned to the girl.

The line Cosette delivered made her snicker. The girl was obviously insecure if she come to delivering lines like that one. Though she was beautiful, Kalypsa would give her that, she was lacking in oh... everything thing else. When the girl patted her shoulder she had to make sure to keep her hand firmly around her drink, Which wasn't to hard when she envisioned it as Cosette's throat, and keeping her arms firmly against the bar.

As Cosette walked away she could see so clearly her stumbling in those hooker heels of hers, spilling that daiquiri down the front of her cream colored dress as she fell, and perhaps breaking her neck during the landing. Oh, the power of imagination.

She watched as she made her way to a table, screaming at the staff shrilly to do her bidding and thought on how she might be able to ruin the girls night. Normally she was not so petty, but tonight she couldn't help herself. Who knew when the next time she would actually get to have fun again, or if she ever would for that matter. This would be worth it.

She paid close attention for a moment or two to see who Cosette was taking interest in. It was easy to spot her target. The man who started to make his way to her table was a fine looking specimen.

Kaly leaned in close to Delilah and smiled.

" You were asking about what I am earlier no? Well I gave you that answer. Let me show you how I work my ... talents. Watch that man right there." She said pointing, displaying a mischievous grin.

She concentrated on the man and sent out a nice slow burning lust. His eyes broke away from Cosette and he made his way toward them. The smile on his face a charming one.

"Can I by you ladies a drink?" He said smoothly.

She smiled and patted the seat beside her. "We'd love that."

[Delilah Sterling]

Though Delilah had already turned her bored expression from someplace over Cosette's shoulder back to Kaly's face, where she gave a not-so-subtle roll of eyes as if to say, "Get a load of this dizzy broad," she still watched as much of Cosette's reaction as she could see from her peripheral.

It was ugly, and it made her wonder whatever happened to girls that made them turn out that way. True, she didn't know Cosette from Eve, but she had met her type before, in boarding school, college, and some of the Avandrya's she'd been to before.

When Cosette tapped Kalypsa's shoulder, Delilah could practically hear the woman's mantra by the gritting of her teeth.

Fat ass? Tough luck getting men? She cast a casual glance at Kaly's backside, where she saw through the Guise to the pointed tail that was probably ticking in anger right now. For some reason she thought Kaly had the kind of luck with men that Cosette could only dream about.

As Cosette said her scathing adieu and prowled off, her dulcet tones carrying over the music, Delilah shook her head at Kaly. "Who is that girl?"

But Kaly was already leaning in close to say something. Canting her head slightly, Delilah followed her eyes to the man in question, blinking a little at what she saw. He was... he was definitely pretty.

"Yeah?" she asked, wondering what that yummy man was going to do under the influence of Kaly's "talents."

To her very, very great surprise, the man veered off from his beeline to Cosette and came over to them instead, as though that was his plan all along.

"Can I buy you ladies a drink?" he asked, and it was all Delilah could do to keep her face neutral when he sat down. Luckily, their shots had arrived and Delilah knocked hers back, feeling fuzzier every second from the gin and Newcastle she'd already consumed.

"This is going to be an interesting evening," she murmured to herself.

[Jack Chapman]

Jack was having more fun than he usually did. This was saying something as madness generally left a lot to the imagination, even in cases when boring would be far safer. It had been a long time since he had dropped into an Avandrya and he had forgotten how exhilarating it was. The residual buzz of magic was enough to send tingles down his spine and electric crackles every so often from his warding spell. Now that he was back he wondered how he had been gone for so long, especially with that foxy lady at the bar radiating…something! Whatever it was caused a burning, almost sickening sensation in his gut that somehow left him craving more.

“A night, a night, such a night as this!” Jack could practically feel his eyes glow as what little reason he still possessed left his body. The woman at the bar had a mousy brown hair, something that he usually didn’t like. Still on her it seemed to fit perfectly with a body that was gorgeous. Though she was slender she wasn’t one of those anorexic models with hollowed out faces with nothing but gaunt skin. No, this was a fighter, no doubt about it. She also was sitting with a young woman, someone who at first glance he couldn’t believe was old enough to drink. The Ouroboros actually seemed to be afraid of her for some reason.

Jack felt the corners of his mouth twist up in a half insane grin, the call of insanity finally breaching any struggle for reason. This was going to be INTERESTING.

"Can I buy you ladies a drink?" Jack asked, leaning against the bar. Just as quickly as he asked he turned to the bartender, pulling out a credit card. “You’re going to hold onto this for me. I get the feeling that this is going to be a crazy night.” He intentionally drawling a little after the word ‘crazy’. He could hear the accented words echo in his ears slightly, feeling years younger

“Now, I believe I was offering you beautiful ladies drinks.” He turned to the one who was sending him the crazy vibes. Yes, SHE was the one that the Ouroboros called to, was craving. “And for you…a magic trick.” He brushed his fingers against the sleeve of his leather jacket before flicking his wrist suddenly, making a red rose appear. “Consider it a gift.”

[Cosette Pierce]

What the hell was going on? Had hell frozen over? Had she ben dropped into hell? How many uses for the word 'hell' could one come up with?

Cosette just stared at the man as he sidled up to the bar and to her nemesis. She just stared as he ordered her drinks. She just stared as the tender placed those drinks in front of Kalypsa and the other woman.

She really could not believe what was happening!

Her jaw dropped and her eyes just about bugged out of their sockets. After a moment, she shook her head and let her mouth purse into a very unattractive line. Kalypsa had taken what she had wanted and the demon didn't even give a shit. Cosette was sure that Kaly had climbed out of her worst nightmares to haunt her days... either that or hell. But really, how many times could one use the world hell?

Standing up from her table, she shook her head again and quietly moved into the throng of dancers to get lost in the rhythm. She only hoped that she would plaster on a happy face on her way out to the dance floor.

Once there, she closed her eyes and let the darkness of the club consume her as silent tears dripped down her cheeks, smearing her makeup.

Today was a day straight out of... Yeah, you guessed it.

(Leaving to Avandrya Dance Floor)