Reality Isn't All That Bites (open)
Amir left his bike parked in a free spot down the street, helped Dana off of it, and walked with her past the storefronts on the "hip" side of the Strip. His destination was a club called The Dive, and he thought it was probably what she was looking for.
She had expressed an interest in experiencing something humans loved, the crush of bodies, a sea of humanity, and all that. Amir knew many places in Nachton; even though it had been a while since his last visit he'd made sure to brush up on things when he'd returned. Disliking humans was one thing; disliking them while being uneducated about them was another altogether. Besides, humans were prey, and to be hunted adequately one had to understand the quarry.
This particular club wasn't upper class, wasn't posh, and wasn't, to the best of Amir's knowledge, affiliated in any way shape or form with any Clan or any rogue. It was run and frequented mostly by humans, and mostly humans of college age, a crowd both he and Dana would fit into well. The drinks were average in price, the music was whatever was currently trendy, and as was often the case with young hormonal adults, most of the people here were interested in one of two things - getting drunk or getting laid. It was, in his opinion, a pretty typical club. Better yet, he would almost definitely find something filling here and so would Dana, if she were inclined.
The proceeded past the bouncers with no problem; fake ID wasn't an issue these days, and even most underage humans had one. Once through the doors they were assaulted with smells and noises, buffeted by flailing arms and even some hair, and knocked every which way as they proceeded into Dana's requested mass of humanity. For the sake of not losing his companion, Amir gripped Dana's hand pretty firmly.
He turned to her but didn't stop moving; in this kind of crush that could prove painful. Pulling her closer he demonstrated the art of walking without actually going very far, moving with the crowd of people as if following the current in an ocean.
He bent a little to pres his lips to her ear so he could speak normally. Yelling didn't suit him.
"Here you are. You can forge on your own or stay with me. Drinking, dancing, whatever you like. You tell me."
He wouldn't drink, of course, but if she wanted to that was fine. He'd make sure she got to the Manor without mishap.
((ooc: Assuming moverights from previous thread. :) Also granted!))
Music beat a tattoo over the miasma of smoke, loud voices and the smell of sweat and sex. It hurt her ears and her nose stung. Her hand wrapped around his arm, as he leaned close to her, their bodies moving with the crowd. She sensed that stopping their motion would be bad, and she didn't want this to end badly in any way.
She didn't drink, finding no use for fermented or distilled beverages as they did not affect her the way they had as a human, and so held no appeal.
Rising up on her toes, she pressed her lips close to his ear, seeing no need to yell, if he hadn't
"I'd like to dance with you."
Though if she were perfectly honest, she didn't think she'd want to remain in a place where she was forced to be in constant motion, and her space was invaded by body parts that had no business there.
He smiled at Dana in response, and navigated them through the crowd until they reached an acceptable spot not quite in the middle of the floor but also not on the outside where they were likely to be jostled by those who were intent on moving in a straight line. The song playing was upbeat but not too fast. Amir fixed his eyes to Dana's, scanning the crowd through peripheral vision for any likely snacks, and placed his hands low on her waist, at her hips.
Finding the beat he pulled Dana close and began to move with her. the crowd of humans surged around them, distasteful, unorganized, unkempt. So he focused his attention on her; all the better to keep from looking disgusted at their surroundings. It was like playing with your food.
As they were pressed more tightly by newcomers to the floor, Amir sighed, mostly because he was reluctant to be rubbing against his dinner, and wrapped his arms tightly around his dance partner. She was far more pleasant than they.
If half the people here left now, it might come close to what she'd pictured. Still it was good to know that not everything was a wonderful as it sounded in books and there were things that she would experience that she would not enjoy.
Amir pulled her close, and their bodies moved to the beat of the music, and while she enjoyed the feel of him pressed against her and the sensual way their bodies moved. She did not like the bodies of strangers doing the same against her back with out her permission.
Rising up on the tips of her toes she pressed her lips to his ear once more.
"Are these places always like this? If they are it's no wonder you didn't really want to come."
"Many of them are," he said. "It's why most people come here. Don't mistake it, though. it might not be fun to socialize here, if that's what you want to call it, but the potential for food is outrageous."
He smiled against her ear, knowing she would feel the expression. "There are some quieter establishments in town though, where you can actually go to enjoy music, and more than a few clubs owned by our type although some of them aren't reputable enough to bother with."
He didn't hide the condescension in his voice; Amir wouldn't stoop to frequenting any establishment he knew to be run by renegades, but there were one or two that might be worth checking out at some point if Dana was still interested in clubs after this one. It never crossed his mind to feel guilty for subjecting her to a distasteful environment. She'd asked to experience a human club and he'd brought her to one.
"Don't be sorry we came, though." He let his breath feather against her neck, just behind her ear. "In the right company, it can be a lot of fun."
"Don't they taste like alcohol?" She wasn't sure she wanted to feed from someone who was inebriated, Lady Erin had kept her food sources pure and untainted in any way. But Lady Erin was not here, and no harm could come from it, she was after all Vampire.
After all of this she would probably wait sometime before visiting another dance club, even one owned by their people. She doubted she go alone to either the next time, she wasn't that brave.
His breath on her neck, had the unexpected pleasure of quickening her breath, and pressing her body closer, if that was possible, to his. Her lips curled into a smile, he was a very exciting man. The dip and sway of their bodies was as close to engaging in intercourse she had ever come with her clothes on.
"What kind...Oh!" Someone's hand had just gone up her skirt and touched very intimate parts of her, and that hand did not belong to her dance partner. Turning her head, she saw a young man dancing close behind her with another young woman, he had a grin on his face that seemed to have nothing to do with the person in front of him. He glanced up, she caught his eye and glared, before turning back to Amir.
"That boy just over my right shoulder, in the green shirt, just put his hand up my skirt. Mind if I kill him?" Anger and a bit of embarrassment flushed her cheeks, and made her voice quaver just a little. Her body, though a bit stiff with the anger, still swayed and moved with Amir's. It amazed her that she could still be moving, and that fear or shyness had not frozen her in place. The amazement wasn't enough to douse her anger, but it was enough that she filed it away to analyze later.
He was slightly surprised she'd never experienced as much before. She certainly had been sheltered. He disapproved; their kind needed no shelter from the reailties of the world. They existed above such things. It was of no moment though. If Dana enjoyed his company, she would learn it all eventually. Clearly her creator meant for her to experience the world, as Dana herself seemed to want to. Amir wasn't opposed to helping acquaint her with it. Knowledge and versatility would only make her a stronger clanmate.
At Dana's sudden outburst, Amir's dark eyes shot to the offending man before narrowing. He smiled wickedly down at Dana. "Of course I don't mind. How about I free him up for you?"
As the crowd moved them back toward the green-shirted man and his date, Amir caught the woman's eyes with his. He had long since ceased to rely on Command for simple tasks such as this, and as the two couples came together, he released one arm from around Dana and slid it around the waist of the young man's dance partner, whose glances at him had indicated she wouldn't be averse to it.
For a moment he had both women in his arms, and Amir took the opportunity to dip his head down to Dana's neck, briefly caress the sensitive skin there with his lips, and whisper, "Have fun. I'll be right here when you're through with him."
With that, he let his arm slip away, enclosing his new partner in a steely, silky embrace. Perfect, for him; this new woman had had a few, but wasn't wasted beyond rational thought. She appeared to be simply having fun. He caught her mood quickly enough, and began to work on her in his way. Charming, flirtatious, sensitive - back to the rules of a very familiar game which he was certain to win.
The offending man willingly traded partners with Amir, and put his hands firmly on Dana's hips, being none to gentle with his fingers and the flesh of her backside. He leaned close, his breath smelled of day old ale. "Wow, I thought you were mad at me."
He yelled, hurting her ear, it just stacked things further against him. She'd begun the hunt, and fear had no place here. He was taller than Amir, so she had to tug him down to her level, before pressing her lips to his ear.
"I am mad. Would you like to see what I do to pretty boys that make me angry?" Her voice was low mixed with a slight vibration caused by the offense and distaste rolling through her. He leaned back enough to look at her, she smiled with half of her mouth, her eyes hooded as she looked up at him through the lashes. He grinned at her and leaned in again, once more yelling.
"I'd like to see anything you want to show me, honey."
Her heart sped up, this was much more fun than damsel in distress hunting and infinitely more satisfying than sneak attacks. She could feel the grin on her face and knew it was not a pleasant thing to look at. Using the tricks of moving in the crowd she'd just learned she began to steer her prey to the back wall of the club. Before she got too far, she looked back, caught Amir's gaze and exchanged a small smile with him.
It took nearly five full minutes of being pawed and manhandled by the green shirted man before they finally made it to the back wall. The crowd was a little thinner here, couples braced along the length of the wall, some trying to talk while others, needed only one less layer of clothing, and she was pretty sure that couple over there was actually engaging in intercourse. How disgusting. Intimacies of that nature should not be shared with the public, the Romans engaged in such things and look where it led them.
Shrugging it off, she returned her attention to "Hey I'm Brett." He'd managed to get her against the wall and was pawing at things he had no business touching.
"You're not wearing a bra, that's so fucking sexy." He yelled again. Sighing she slid her hand up into his thick gel encrusted hair and closed her fingers. It took little to jerk his head back, then spin their bodies so that he was the one pressed against the wall. His eyes cleared of their beer induced haze, as she pushed his body low enough that she didn't have to stand on tip toe to look him in the eye.
He opened his mouth to speak, but she wanted no more of his yelling, and did not wish to hear him plea, a swift brutal yank of his hair shut his mouth again.
She smiled at him then, using all of her teeth. Her fangs were small, as the rest of her teeth were, but their implication was no less, and Brett began to shake.
Placing her legs to either side of his, she leaned very close to him. The shaking grew more pronounced as her lips pressed to his ear again. "I eat pretty boys that make me angry."
He pushed against her, but even for her slight size, his strength was no match to hers and she was not inhibited by fear. A shiver coursed through her body as she yanked his head to one side, causing him to cry out. It was a heady thing that cry. With a soft moan, teeth pierced skin and the boy's life flowed into her mouth.
This triggered his fight or flight response and she was forced to hold him with more than she cared to. Lifting her head she spoke into his ear again, "If you don't stop that, I'll be forced to kill you, now be still."
He stopped fighting, but his body still shook, and his chest still heaved, and his heart pumped his blood hard and fast from the two small quickly closing holes in his throat.
Wrinkling her nose, she took one hand from his body and rummaged about in the small purse she carried. She wasn't actually going to kill the man, one of the first rules she'd learned was that one does not leave dead bodies lying about. However, the blood on his shirt had to be explained somehow.
She'd not quite gotten enough from him, but with the small amount she'd taken from Amir earlier, she could wait until she fed again, though she would need to be careful that it was not two weeks between this time.
With a small movement of her fingers, a blade popped out of the end of what looked like a makeup compact. Before the poor boy knew what had happened, her hand flew up, marked a shallow cut through where she'd bitten him, and had the knife back in her purse.
Unable to help herself, she licked softly at the cut, it would help the bleeding stop sooner, and she got just a little more from the bastard.
"That is the last time you put your hand up someone's skirt with out their permission."
He nodded, and she let him go, watching him slide down the wall. Her nose wrinkled, and then her head went a little fuzzy. Well that couldn't be good.
She spun around, the movement causing her to sway and her vision to blur. Memory struck, she was intoxicated. "Damn." Her hand flew to her mouth, a lady didn't curse, Dana started to giggle.
She needed to find Amir, she could not be in this state on her own. Her eyes scanned the crowd, but she was too short to see into the middle of the floor. Spotting a table nearby, crowded about with people and covered in drinks, she made her way to it. Amid cries of outrage she stood up on it and looked out over the floor. There! He was where she'd left him, dancing with the girl.
Jumping down from the table, she misjudged the floor and fell to onto her bottom. Giggling she took the hand someone offered her, then dug around in her purse again. She dropped several bills on the table she'd just fallen from, and with a slight sway to her newly learned skill of crowd walking, she made her way toward Amir.
The girl was limp and incoherent in his arms but she managed to support herself, however weakly. Amir swung her around in time to catch Dana's phenomenal leap from the table. He didn't see her land, but he assumed she would be making her way back toward him so he ditched his dinner in the willing arms of another man and made his way toward the side of the floor.
The room swayed for a moment before holding still; maybe the girl had had more to drink than he'd thought. He was, as he'd noted earlier, unpleasantly fuzzy. Not incapacitated, however, as it appeared Dana might be. There was a distinct unsteadiness to her gait as she swam through the surging crowd of riotous humanity.
Holding his hand out, Amir waited for Dana to reach him.
"Do you know, I think that man was quite drunk." Her feet ran into one another, causing her to lean a bit more heavily on Amir. "But I don't think he'll be putting his hands up skirts anymore."
She flashed him a wicked grin. "I scared him. Isn't that lovely?"
The music changed to slow lyrics with a heavy back beat, the vampire in her arms adjusted their sway to match, and Dana snuggled closer. "I want to leave soon, people here are very unsanitary."
She looked up at him with wide eyes. "There were people engaging in intercourse, in public!" Her cheeks colored lightly, even saying was unseemly.
As she pressed against him he made the necessary adjustments, one hand splayed across the small of her back, the other cradled between her shoulder blades. He tipped his head down to hear her speak and then responded, once again letting his lips brush her ear. It was the easiest way to be heard here, but he wouldn't lie to himself. Dana was fun, and pretty. He was glad she was who she was. As she blushed, he made a face of distaste at her observations.
"There's no accounting for taste; some things are best done in private. We can leave whenever you like. Having sampled your ocean of humanity, I can imagine you might want to shower."
It was said without irony; Amir made no excuses for his beliefs and generally tended to express them sincerely whether or not any other involved parties might agree.
Acquiescing to her wishes, he moved them toward the edge of the floor. Not too quickly; the current song was slow once again and in his slightly fuzzy state he was, perhaps, imagining a little too much in the way she clung to him.
"Where to? Home already, or did you have something else in mind?"
He had promised to explore the city with her, at the very least. While she certainly couldn't fit it all in in one night, it was barely past midnight. Having accomplished his goals for the evening, Amir could think of no better way to spend the rest of it.
"I'm not ready to go home yet." She peered at her wrist, but found it devoid of a watch, having forgotten that she'd taken it off in the car before her visit to the ocean.
"I'm sure it's early yet. Will you take me somewhere you like to go?"
Perhaps he would take her someplace quiet where they could talk a bit more, and she could touch him with out being jostled by the crush of people around them, and she would get to ride on his motor bike again.
Finding a spot of quiet along the side, still holding onto his apparent charge for the evening, he finally said. "A compromise. We will go someplace I like, and someplace home. Most of the places I enjoy best are there. Will that do?"
His hands still drifted across Dana's back, his silky smile was still genuine, an expression of pleasure. Amir didn't have anyplace particularly special to him here, but he did know a few spots that were quiet, enjoyable, and that Dana might like to know of.
They made their way along the side of the crowd and out onto the street. It was a bit jarring for Dana. The sudden silence made her ears throb, the fresh air made her lungs burn, and her legs were still a bit wobbly as she tried to make the step down onto the sidewalk.
Amir caught her, steadied her. As he moved away toward the parking lot, she was afraid he would let her go. She should not be feeling so attached to this man, and was firmly blaming the alcohol in that boy's blood. Amir calmed the fear, by taking her hand and guiding her to where his bike awaited them.
Giggling as her leg slipped from under her causing her to land with a bit of a thump behind Amir. When he took her hands and once more wrapped them firmly about his waist, she slid against him, molding her body to his. Because she liked the feel of him, she lay her cheek against his back just between his shoulder blades, instead of watching the city rush past
Here she could hear his heart beat, feel the movement of his muscles as he maneuvered the bike, and the longing deep in her body grew. She had a feeling, that if he behaved as the gentleman she knew him to be, it would be a very long lonely day. She could only hope, he would choose this one evening to lay the gentleman aside.
((OOC Both out, with permission, lock up please))