-
She glanced over, still rather on edge, despite herself. So far, nobody in the park had attacked either of them, but you never know... Shaking her head, she approached him as he began his swift exit from the park- his height ensured a significantly faster walking speed than she was used to. "Where are we going?" she asked him quietly as she established a steady pace beside him, glancing briefly up at him. She hadn't been paying too much attention to what he had been doing, since everyone else was more what she was watching out for.
-
"A nearby club," he replied, not really looking back, his camera, however was resting for the time being. The walk took about ten to fifteen minutes, after which they noticed a small group of young people gathering around to get into a club. Datrian's pace dropped and his nose twitched for a split second.
"Let's go in," he said, motioning towards the club with bright letters above the entrance, reading "Ciar". Faint sounds of music seeped through, occasionally getting louder once the door opened to let someone in or out. The two managed to get in quite quickly and without much trouble, unlike a few teens, that tried to smuggle some liqueur into the club. Once inside, they had to go down a spiral set of stairs, with each step the music becoming louder and beats stronger. At the bottom, they almost ran in into a sea of young hot bodies dancing to the music of performers.
"Seems to be a concert of sorts..." the man mused and turned towards the bar.
-
Isabel seemed rather uneasy as he led her inside and down the steps- if they needed to leave in a hurry, it might be a bit of an issue, and a large crowd in a dark room would make it hard to see any sort of attacker. Even putting the basic safety concerns aside, there was something about the music itself, a loud, pounding rock song, that rather put her off. As they reached the club itself and she got a look around, she finally remembered why the name had sounded familiar. "Detrian?" she began, trying to make her voice heard over the music. He was already cutting his way through the crowd, however. Grimacing, she cast one last glance at Steve, who seemed to be absorbed enough in singing to have not noticed her, before starting swiftly off after the vampire.
-
Even though the music was near deafening, Detrian looked back at the woman when she called out for him. She didn't seem to pleased with this place and overly concerned for some reason. Turning back some, he grabbed her by the hand and dragged the woman towards the bar.
"You need to relax a bit," he spoke and ordered some drinks for both of them. "Are you always such a worrywart?" the man asked as he leaned back against the counter. This was a pretty nice spot, allowing him the view of most of the crowd... even though that was mainly thanks to his height. This could be both an advantage and a disadvantage, but it seems that tonight he was lucky. His tall and strong build was quite attractive for the opposite sex.
-
"Just when we're in a room crowded with people who might want to kill you," she muttered, looking up at him. She wasn't quite as blessed with height as he was, and could barely see over the heads of the crowd to the stage. "You need to be more careful, alright?" Carefully, she accepted the offered glass, looking at it suspiciously. One could never be too cautious, even when you weren't trying to protect a vampire who just happened to be one of the most visible people in the room. "Plus I know one of the guys in the band, and I wasn't expecting to see him tonight."
-
"A guy in the band?" Detrian asked with a raised eyebrow. She didn't strike him as someone who would get involved with a man like that. 'Didn't expect or didn't want to see him?' he wondered to himself before taking the drink from the bartender and emptying the thumb in one go.
"Why don't you try to enjoy yourself for a change? Go out there and have fun, 'cuz I know that's exactly what I'm going to do," he grinned mischievously and stepped into the crowd before Isabel even had a chance to try and stop him. It didn't take the vampire long to start hitting on one of the lose looking women in the lot while dancing to the loud, strong beats.
-
Isabel frowned sternly, turning slightly to put the untouched drink back on the bar- she certainly wasn't planning on drinking it. "Detrian, it's not that easy, I'm trying to-" she began, then broke off as she turned back towards him to see he had already managed to disappear into the crowd. Quietly, she swore under her breath, her eyes searching the crowd for the vampire as she tried to cut through the throng of dancing people.
-
Detrian danced without a care in the world, it seemed and that only made him look all the more attractive to the 'ladies'. While he was busy chatting them up and asking them to dance, the band on the stage changed and for a little while the loud beats were replaced by loud chattering instead as people anticipated the next band. The vampire saw quite well, that Isabel was trying to get towards him, but luckily, the crowd made it so much harder for her.
A few moments later, a new band took the stage and a small group formed near the backstage entrance. Apparently, some members from the previous band came out. Probably for some drinks.
-
At least he was tall, so she could catch glimpses of where he had run off to. Awkwardly, she tried to squeeze her way through the packed crowd in his general direction. "Excuse me- ah, pardon me, I'm just going to- I'll just get past you there, if you don't mind-" she asked people as she moved through the crowd, her voice barely audible over the pounding beat of the final song of the set. Luckily, it wasn't too long before the song ended, and people began to disperse to chat, meet their friends, and refill drinks. Straightening, she approached Detrian, a stern frown on her face. "Listen, I don't know what you're playing at, but..." she began.
"Izzy, you made it!" She winced as Steve spotted her, waving happily. Although she tried to duck behind Detrian, he was already closing the gap between them.
-
For his surprise, Isabel made it through the crowd much faster than he anticipated. Hearing her voice starting to nag at him, Detrian raised his eyebrows and the girl beside him frowned and decided to leave, "Next time come without your girlfriend," the woman huffed. Sighing heavily and with a hint of irritation, he turned to Isabel. Still, he did not make an attempt to go after the woman.
"But what?.." he half growled when a male voice suddenly called out to the woman. Just casting a glance at him, the vampire quickly identified him as the guy who was just on stage a few minutes ago. What would he want with his bodyguard? Isabel's reaction though, didn't please him.
"Someone you know?" Detrian asked simply, while putting his forearm on Isabel's shoulder, leaning on her that way.
-
She was already trying to back away slightly, but the vampire leaning on her shoulder prevented her from retreating effectively. Inwardly cursing, she shot a quick glare at Detrian before turning her attention to Steve, who was easily making his way towards them. He seemed oddly thrilled to see Isabel there.
"Izzy, hi!" he continued enthusiastically, grinning widely. "I thought you weren't coming!"
Isabel seemed less than amused, frowning at him. "Neither did I, but he wanted to," she muttered, shaking her head. "We should probably be going."
He paused, then seemed to notice Detrian for the first time. "Wait, who's this guy?"
-
"Going?" Detrian almost groaned. "But I haven't got my fill yet..." his tone was suggestive and said in a least innocent way, right near Isabel's ear. He was teasing, of course, both, Isabel and that man who seemed ecstatic to actually see her there.
"I'm Detrian Hart," the vampire introduced himself now supporting all of his weight himself and allowing Isabel the freedom to move. "And you are...?" he trailed, waiting for the guy to introduce himself as well.
-
The singer did not seem thrilled by this development. "Steve. You probably saw me up there," he said, eyeing the vampire suspiciously as though certain he would grab Isabel and run off into the night. "How do you know Izzy?"
"Steve, it's fine," she said quietly, her eyes glinting in teh dim light as she looked sternly up at Detrian. "I know him from work, and-"
"Oh, that makes it alright, does it?" he asked, his voice rather sharp. "One of the guys from work, hm? All black trench coats and sunglasses and thinking they are so cool because they run around-" he lowered his voice to a sharp hiss- "killing vampires for a living? You didn't have to bring him here, you know."
"It's really not-" she began, sounding rather exasperated, before shaking her head. "Look, we'll talk about it later, alright?"
-
Great. Detrian now felt disapproving glances from both, the singer and his bodyguard. Unfortunately for them, it just amused him. Especially the part where Steve so carefully mentioned the vampire killing part.
"I'm afraid you've made a mistake," he smiled, suddenly revealing a hint of fangs. "She is the crazy one running around killing innocent beings," he stated in a manner that seemed wrong just because of how casual he made it sound. "And she didn't bring me here. I came on my own. She just... followed," again, he added it in a way that would imply anything, but a simple task related to Isabel's line of work. And since the woman didn't seem to want to stick with the guy any longer, Detrian turned, as if wanting to leave.
"See you around, Steve," he said and moved ever so lightly behind Isabel, as if he was about to hug her. "Come with me, Izzy," as he spoke those words, his eyes were fixated on Steve's, gauging the impact his lover's name coming from another man's lips had on the man. The guess, that Steve and Isabel were lovers came mostly from a faint scent coming from that man. Isabel didn't have his smell though, which made Detrian wonder if Steve had something belonging to the woman.
-
The use of the nickname had a visible effect on Steve, his expression darkening. There was a brief moment, in which he attempted to decide whether to run and hide from the newly-revealed vampire or punch Detrian in the face. During that instant, Isabel pulled away from Detrian, sighing. "Steve, it really isn't..." she began, looking more exasperated than anything else.
"Izzy, I'm not stupid," he replied sharply as he started to step back from them. "I'm just... I'm going to go home, you two can stay and keep having fun." With that, he turned on his heel, stalking towards the exit.
She shook her head, but made no real move to follow him out. After another pause, she told Detrian, her voice flat, "Don't call me Izzy."
-
"Don't call me Izzy."
Detrian didn't respond, just shrugged with little care in his demeanor. "You sure you don't want to follow him?" he asked more out of curiosity, that anything else. No matter how entertained he was by this small scene, he had other things to do, than to actually be concerned for a vampire slayer and her partner. "Now if you have no more business with me..." he seemed to have said something more, but the newly arrived band and revived crowd drowned out his voice.
A few minutes later Detrian could be seen going to a little bit more deserted part of the club, with a woman on his arm. The woman was apparently lightly intoxicated, smiling and giggling to whatever the man said. What they didn't notice though, was a couple shadows following them. Once they were far enough from the public eye, the two jumped on Detrian, scaring the woman away.
-
The crowd allowed him to get out of sight quickly as the main attraction took the stage. "Detrian, don't-" she began before he easily slipped away.
The two young men almost swarmed onto him, their trench coats flapping in the wind. One stepped in front of him, while the other hurried to his back. ""Let's go somewhere a bit more quiet," the man in front of him hissed, watching Detrian cautiously.
-
Detrian sighed heavily. How many more times do people have to disrupt his plans? It was getting seriously annoying. But he knew better than to make a scene in a public place, so when the guys offered to move to a more quiet place, the vampire just nodded. As a small group, they went through the back exit, that lead to the alley behind the building.
"So, how may I help you, gentlemen?" he growled, obviously pissed off.
"Calm down," one of the men spoke. "If you behave, we'll make it quick and painless. We do have our orders to keep you alive, though..."
Detrian frowned. 'Orders? Alive? You must be joking!' Just as the men approached to restrain him, Detrian punched one in the stomach, making the man stagger and back off for a bit. "Sorry, guys, but I have no intention of going with you," he hissed.
"You bastard!" one of the men took out a gun and fired. Luckily, the bullet only grazed the surface of the vampire's skin, but it was already damage. Detrian quickly covered his wound and started to retreat. Damn, this wasn't good, the man he had previously punched was soon going to come to as well.
Back at the club, word was already slowly spreading about someone fighting in the back alley.
-
The murmurs were easily spreading through the club, despite the pounding music. Most people seemed rather unaffected, assuming it was just a small fistfight, but the news did cause Isabel to look up from the glass of wine she had allowed some guy for her. It took her a few seconds to decide whether or not to investigate- Detrian did appear to have left the building, though, and she assumed he would probably be in the center of any trouble in the area. In one long swig, she drained the cheap chardonnay before handing it to her new conversational partner. "Sorry," she called over the blaring guitar to the rather surprised man as she began to extricate herself from the crowd, "time of the month, got to go!" A blatant lie, but one she had never been questioned on.
Carefully, she slipped towards the exit, pulling her identification card out of her pocket. The sudden crack of the gunshot startled her, but only caused her to stop for a second before pushing the door open. "What's going on here, then?" she asked sternly, her demeanour resembling that of a rather stern teacher.
-
Isabel's voice rang loud and clear through the alley. Detrian shot his eyes up at her and smirked.
"Some of your friends have come to play," he said slowly standing up straight. The wound he suffered just a minute ago, was already starting to heal, but it still stung bad.
"Tch!" the attackers were obviously not to happy at the sight of the woman and one of them turned to her. "Run along, lady, this does not concern you!" he said menacingly taking a step towards Isabel in an attempt to startle her. The other man, however, still had his gun pointed at Detrian.
-
She frowned, barely even glancing at Detrian. "I'm afraid it does, unfortunately," she replied, showing her identification. "Isabel Price, level three layer, and I've been tasked with keeping this vampire alive for some reason. Who are you two?" Carefully, she stepped forward into the light to get a better look at them, seeming rather unimpressed by the whole situation
-
"Unfortunately, this is none of your business, Miss Price. Please kindly remove yourself from this place, or else..." he also took out a gun and pointed it at Isabel. The other man approached Detrian, who didn't seem to be resisting much.
"Get him to the car," the man in front of Isabel spoke, while keeping an eye on her.
-
"It is, unfortunately," she interjected, taking a cautious step forward. "I mean, really, let's be reasonable here- this town is full of vampires, there's got to be one you could find whose death won't get me... terminated. And shooting me would just make another mess to tidy up. Can't we work something out?"
-
"Tsk... You're such a bore," Detrian mumbled and grabbed the man on front of him by the hand holding a gun. His finger wrapping around the man's wrist like an iron claw, making him yelp in pain and drop the weapon. "This is how you handle an attacker, no?" he looked at Isabel with a smirk. His small would was healed now, thanks to the interruption and thus it was time for payback for interrupting his 'meal'. With just a little grunt, Detrian threw the man he was holding into a nearby wall effectively knocking him out.
"Aren't you going to run with your tail between your legs?" the vampire grinned, exposing his fangs. The look in his eyes was far from friendly and the attacker lost any advantage he had. He was simply outnumbered with both Detrian and Isabel against him.
"Scram," Detrian almost roared, but it seemed the remaining man valued his life enough to listen to the order. Shaking with anger, he lowered his gun and retreated from the alley. "This isn't over yet..." he hissed through his teeth.
Once the man was out of sight, Detrian looked at Isabel. "Hail a taxi, we're going home."
-
She winced as the first slayer hit the wall with a slight cracking noise. Managing to offer a brief, apologetic look at the other slayer as he disappeared around the corner, she sighed before looking up at Detrian. "That is how some people handle things," she replied sharply. "And that might be why some people find themselves pursued by assassins. You are more or less physically unharmed, correct?" Without really waiting for an answer, she started out of the alley to see if there was a cab approaching them.
-
"Sorry, I don't take kindly to people that shoot at me," he spat out, but he was fine, just extremely angry. The whole aura he excluded made him seem like the stereotypical predator, firm, cold and bone chilling. Detrian didn't bother to speak another word to the woman and just waited for her to catch them a ride. Once she managed that, he was quick to get in and tell the driver his address.
'Damn... That man is going to be all over me after this...' he cursed to himself.
Once they were back at the apartment, he rushed to his study. If it had a door, he would have slammed them, but now he just turned on his stereo as loud as he could. The loud music loosened him up some, but he still couldn't calm down and kept pacing back and forth.
-
The ride home was quite firmly silent- Isabel was rather displeased as well, but decided that airing her grievances in front of the cab driver was probably a bad idea at this point. Occasionally, she glanced Detrian's way, looking incredibly unimpressed.
Once they were in the apartment, she paused to ensure the door was locked, just in case. Her next stop was the kitchen, where she made a quick up of tea before taking a seat on the oversized couch. She took a few long sips, glancing warily towards the source of the pounding bass. Although she did want to give him a serious talk, he seemed a bit too volatile now for that to be safe.
-
As time passed, Detrian's pacing stopped, though the music was still pounding. Deciding, that the best way not to think about annoying things was work, the man sat down by his desk and took his camera. Turning it on, he looked through a few of the photos he had taken earlier that day, then connected it to his computer. The pictures of scenery and people pleased him and before he knew it, his fingers were running the keyboard, typing furiously as words just gushed out, flooding the text editor's sheet. He seemed so absorbed, that he even forgot there was another person in his apartment, who might just be as irritated as he was.
-
It was quite late before she stood, moving to the door of his study. Although the beat of the music still throbbed loudly, she could still hear the slight dinging of her phone receiving another text message. Frowning, she pushed it into her pocket before turning her attention back to Detrian. "Would you mind turning that down or something?" she asked suddenly, her voice crisp and stern. "Some of us have to sleep."
-
Surprisingly, even through all that music, Detrian heard her loud and clear. That surprised even him to the point that he actually raised his eyes to meet her's.
"...Some of us don't," he replied coldly, but nevertheless, he lowered the volume down. A little. "Are you retiring already?" He asked, but the tone of his voice spoke clearly, that he was still not in the best of moods.
"By the way, who was the guy that approached you at the bar earlier today?" he asked out of the blue. Detrian had a hunch, but he wanted to hear it from her.
-
"I would like to try and get a nap sometime soon," she replied, leaning slightly against the doorframe. "Just in case you had things to do tomorrow..." At the latter question, she paused, idly tucking a stray strand of hair back up into the bun. While she certainly wasn't eager to discuss the intricacies of her relationship at all, let alone with a vampire, she supposed some sort of answer might be polite. "And he... we were dating for a while, and now he's not too happy with me about anything."
-
Well, after what happened tonight at the club, he had high doubts he'd be able to leave his apartment even if he wanted to. There were certain people who would do anything to make sure he stayed quietly and 'out of harm's way'. However annoying that was.
"...Anything? What do you mean by anything?" he asked. "Do you mean the fact that you work as someone's bodyguard? Or the fact that that someone is a male vampire?" Detrian tilted his head to the side, seemingly without any real intention to drop the subject soon.
-
"Well," she said sharply, "partially the vampire thing in general, but more recently, the fact that someone felt the need to drape himself over me and call me nicknames that I'm not really alright with even him using. He's always been rather sensitive about that sort of thing, you'll understand." After a short pause, Isabel added, "And really, it is none of your business. Did you have plans for tomorrow?"
-
"Drape himself..." Detrian repeated and chuckled. She didn't seem to be that badly opposed to that, though.
"No, we'll be staying in," the man replied and turned back to the computer screen. "You can go and have some rest. I would like to see my bodyguard in her best shape after all," he grinned without looking at her. Isabel was thorny and seemed stubborn. No wonder her boyfriend is having a hard time with a woman like that. 'This situation would fit perfectly with Sally...' At that thought, his fingers began to swiftly run through the keyboard and the troublesome inmate Isabel was already out of his thoughts.
-
"That's good to know- do wake me if anything happens," she replied quietly. His sudden burst of typing rather surprised her, so despite her yearning to get some sleep, she stepped into the room, rather curious. She was certain it wasn't anything sinister, but it was always good to check. "What are you writing there?" she continued quietly, staying far enough away to let him know she wasn't watching over his shoulder.
-
"Working," the man corrected her and pointed backwards over the shoulder with his thumb. Behind him, throughout the wall, spanned rows of shelves, that were brimming with all kinds of books. The ones directly behind him, judging by the summaries at the back of the cover, were all erotic novels, and the author of those novels was... Detrian Hart. Some of those books were quite well known and received, but of course, you had to be into those kinds of books to actually know any of his works. In this case, Detrian highly doubted, that Isabel had enough free time to immerse herself into books or erotic fantasies. At some point, he found that regretful, because she did seem to be in need of letting out some steam.
"I don't mind if you want to take one for reading," he smirked.
-
She glanced back at the shelf, slightly surprised. "You wrote all those?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow. She had assumed he was just independently wealthy or something like that, as vampires often seemed to be, but having a source of income did make sense. "Well," she continued, taking one off the shelf, "I suppose I might as well-" As she scanned the plot summary, such as it was, her cheeks turned an uncustomary shade of scarlet. Without another word, she slid the book back into place. "Well then. Good night."
-
"What? Not into reading?" he asked as she headed out. "Well, good night then," he grinned once more and lowered his eyes at the monitor once more. Five minutes later, he turned down the music even more.
-----------
The next morning found Detrian resting in his chair near the still turned on computer. The music was still playing, but on a very low volume. The vampire awoke at the very first rays of light stat slowly started flooding the room. Groaning, he stood up and went to close the blinds. As he did so, Detrian casually glanced outside through the window.
"Shit..." he cursed silently and rushed to wash his face. This was going to be one hell of a morning.
About fifteen minutes later, there the sound of a doorbell rang through the apartment. Reluctantly, Detrian went to answer the door.
"Good morning,.." he said as a an older vampire strode right past him, allowing himself into the apartment. "...uncle." Detrian finished his sentence and closed the door behind him.
-
As was her custom, Isabel slept in her clothes- while she was fairly certain that nothing would happen in the morning that required urgent action, it was always good to prepare for the worst. Sure enough, the doorbell woke her from her light sleep rather early in the morning. In a second, she was sitting upright, her blankets on the floor. While the bun had fallen out of her hair, she looked relatively well put-together for having just rolled out of bed. Cautiously, she opened her door to peer down the hall and see who had arrived. Recognizing the older gentleman who had hired her on full-time, she relaxed,stepping into view. "Good morning," she echoed, nodding cordially.
-
The man gave Isabel an once over then nodded in a greeting before turning towards Detrian.
"I wish I could say the same," he spoke in a grim tone. "Detrian, I thought we've went through this enough times for you to remember. But apparently, I must remind you once more - do not get yourself in trouble, do not mingle carelessly..."
"It's not my fault!" Detrian interrupted the elderly vampire. "Do you imagine I run around with a notice plastered on by back or something?"
"It would be so much easier if you just remained in the main house and let us keep you safe!"
"More like 'imprisoned'," Detrian scoffed and looked away from his uncle.
"Don't be so dramatic Detrian!" the man raised his voice and his brow furrowed. "Miss Price," he suddenly turned to Isabel. "My apologies, Detrian must be a hand-full to handle. I give you full authority to restrain his movements if you see it fit, but do not allow him to get in harm's way. You are being payed for that..."
"Uncle, that's enough," the younger vampire growled. "I understand your concern, but you cannot contain me forever. Now... I think you've overstayed your welcome."
The elderly vampire didn't argue anymore. He just decided to leave... For now.
After seeing the man off, Dertian returned to the living room and plopped on the couch. A heavy air surrounded him.
"I'll be going out this evening," he spoke loud enough for Isabel to hear.