Haunted Roads

Who: Kaden and Serena
When: Early evening
Where: The Towers and then out for date night
What: Date night, duh!

Originally he'd just planned a casual evening for them...drinks at a little bistro downtown, a walk through the park....but somehow that hadn't seemed like quite enough. This was the woman he'd intended to marry, after all, he could do better than a walk. So a last minute change of plans had instead landed them a private dinner cruise - Serena mentioned she liked to sail, it seemed like a better way to spend their evening. He wouldn't be eating, of course, but he didn't mind watching her. Besides, cruising along the water seemed a little bit more romantic than the park. In the distant past, he could remember liking boats. Here was to hoping that had stayed true over time.

They'd agreed to head out after sunset, no truly specific time set, and since he didn't have far to go there was no rush. It was about an hour after the horizon darkened when he headed out, a bouquet of multi-colored miniature roses in his hand. At least he could make new memories - he hadn't forgotten that she'd like them in the short time span since he'd rushed over to verify what he'd hoped was a memory. He wasn't really the "dress up" type, but he'd figured this occasion warranted his best shot; he'd gone with black boots, jeans and a blazer in the same hue, over a deep gray striped button down. It was more than the typical for him and truly about as formal as he got without the equivalent of a gun to his head...at least, he liked to think so, couldn't remember, really. Maybe he'd been a suit guy in a 'past life,' but he seriously doubted it.

Tugging his door closed, he dropped the keys into his pocket and crossed the short distance to Serena's apartment. Raising a hand, he knocked aloud, jokingly hiding the flowers behind his back. Alright, so he couldn't remember dating....in about the last 50 years, but he couldn't be that out of practice, could he? He hoped not. From the other side of the door he could hear her pulse rate increase just slightly at his knock, picked up easily on the click of her heels against the floor as she headed his way. The scent of her perfume was easy enough to sense as well, a light smile gracing his lips as she pulled open her front door. "Evening," he grinned, sliding the bouquet out of hiding, "these are for you. And...," he reached into his pocket and produced a nicely sized chewbone, "for the man of the house." Kaden crouched, offering the treat up to Tony. "So," he gave the dog an affectionate scratch before he stood, "I'm ready to head out when you are. There's been a change of plans, by the way. The new destination is a surprise."

Who: Alex, Kaden and Serena
When: Night
Where: The Old Town Towers
What: There could be a smack down

Things were going pretty well for Alex since he had moved to Seattle. He had gotten laid by a beautiful woman. The sex of which was beyond incredible and had exhausted him for days. He had gotten to spend a little quality time with his sister, though not nearly enough. He had found a job. And at his job, he had made a few friends, two in particular that really did him some good. Johnny had a garage at his house that he gave Alex free use of and Paul had a junkyard that was like a restoration artist's wet dream, giving him license to take anything he wanted from the place. A day after that, as if it were meant to be, a beauty of a body fell into his lap. Now, in addition to working all night, he was working during the day as well, at Johnny's garage, using parts from Paul's junkyard to restore the classic beauty that Steve had sold him for a hundred bucks. He was practically in heaven.

Tired on his feet having spent the entire day at the garage, Alex had gotten a call asking him to come in because someone had called out. And even though he was exhausted, overtime paid a hell of a lot of money, so because of that, he had agreed and dragged his wasted ass out of the bed. Serena was still at work when he got out of the shower to get dressed, so he had taken the dog out for her like he always did when she was gone for long periods of time and was heading back up to the apartment to put him back inside before he took off when Tony, completely out of character for the dog, yanked the leash out of his hand and took off barking.

"Fuck!" Alex muttered as he exhaled a sigh. "Tony, ya asshole, come back here!" He said, taking off after the dog, following the sound of his paws on the floors to try to catch him and take him home. At least he was going in the right direction instead of trying to run back outside. Maybe Serena had come home while they were outside and he had just missed her and Tony smelled him and was going to go track her down.

The footfalls stopped just before Alex rounded a corner and there Tony was, sniffing some man who was petting him. "Come here, you mangy mutt." He said, sighing as he shook his head. "Sorry man." He addressed the man, looking up at him. Why did he look so familiar? Alex had met Kaden only a handful of times so it would take a minute to come to him, but for now, he had a brow arched and was watching him carefully, trying to figure out exactly why he knew that face.

Who: Serena and Kaden
Where: Her apartment
When: Evening
What: Kaden has what he hopes is a memory

The blinding headache had come on so slowly he hadn't even realized until it was sharp enough to have him reaching for the kitchen counter to stay upright. Vampires didn't have migraines....so what the hell was this? Kaden could feel a thin sheen of cool sweat lining his forehead as he raised a hand, rubbing futilely at his temples as if that might somehow vanquish the damn pounding behind his eyes. The light from the kitchen's overhead lighting was suddenly too bright, too intense for his already
sensitive eyes and there was no choice but to close them in an attempt to block out the glare.

Light shouldn't still show when you close your eyes, light shouldn't be inside your eyelids....ok, so something was definitely wrong here. That dull, throbbing pain was escalating quickly, searing through his skull until it felt as if someone was trying to bust free of it. Kaden leaned forward a bit further, bracing himself against the kitchen counter as the edges of his vision whitened, growing brighter and brighter even as the pain reverberating through his head seemed to worsen.

There came a moment when everything froze - when the pain stopped and the light that crept through closed lids couldn't get any brighter - and it was then that he realized this wasn't just any weirder-than-shit headache. There were flowers....fucking flowers....and that itself made no sense...until...there-was that Serena? Serena holding flowers, what looked like roses...little, tiny roses.....and her smile...glancing up at....him? What that was it was? That's the way it seemed at least. But why...was this a memory? Could it be the first key that might unlock the rest? Could he be so lucky? Flowers....that's what he tried to burn into his already fried brain in that moment....don't forget the flowers - he willed himself - don't forget the fucking flowers.

And then he was falling....vision going black again. He crashed against the floor, but by then. Kaden was already unconscious. When he came too his head was, mercilessly, pain free - not to mention the fact that his vision was back to normal. Flowers. He had to find out what the flowers meant.....why would they be the first thing he remembered? Pushing himself up from the floor, he grabbed his keys and dashed out the door, hurrying to Serena's apartment. He raised a hand and knocked solidly, hoping she was home, praying she would have an answer...

Where: The Towers
When: Lateish night
Who: Serena and Kaden

It had been one busy week. After the basketball game with Nox on Tuesday, Serena had hopped a flight back home and got busy packing her life up. Wednesday and Thursday were spent packing up what stuff she still had out there and rather than having it go by moving company, she just shipped it on a two day back to her hotel room. There wasn’t much left after the stuff she could take in her luggage so why not, right? Any furniture in Kaden’s apartment was sold or given away and Ryan was sweet enough to take any bigger pieces of music equipment and hold onto it until she could talk to Kaden again and see if he wanted or not. Other than that it was mostly just trinkets and paperwork, though the contents of Kaden’s old office were a lot less after she cleaned it out a few months prior.

Once everything was packed up and shipped off, she said goodbye to her friends and hopped another flight back late Thursday night. Poor Tony was a trooper through it all and she could tell that he knew that things were about to change. Only a few hours of Friday morning were dedicated to sleep and once she had gotten some food into her, she was off and running. The rest of that day was spent picking out new furniture and arranging for it to be delivered or picked up but the newest friends in her life. Then of course there was arranging for her brother to drive up the rest of her stuff from Tahoe and she was ecstatic about that! It had been far too long since she had seen him and hopefully he would be able to stay for a few days.

This morning consisted of picking out new bedding and linens and going to the store for beer and bottled water. If Hale and Nox were going to give up their afternoon helping her, she was going to make sure they were well hydrated and fed. So that meant pizza was ordered ahead of time as well. Serena was a planner, and definitely thorough if nothing else! So that was her afternoon and once the guys had left, it was back to the hotel to grab Tony and bring him to their new home.

Since taking a cab back and forth was not at all practical, Serena had arranged for a rental car earlier that morning and got busy shoving the boxes from New York in the back. She really needed to just buy her own car but that was something she was going to save for when Alex was in town. Tony was with the first trip over and she couldn’t help but notice something was off when she brought him upstairs. For some reason he kept trying to get into the apartment next door and she literally ended up dragging inside the right one. He was a strange one sometimes, but she was too busy and preoccupied with everything to give it too much thought.

It was fairly late when the last trip over was made and unfortunately she was struggling with one of the heavier boxes as she made her way up the sidewalk. Packing most of her books in the same box probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do but she overestimated her own strength and ended up sending the box tumbling to the ground before she ever made it up the stairs. “Crap.”

When: Saturday night
Where: Alibi Room's main stage
What: ROARKE's show
Who: Anyone who wants to come!

They were scheduled to take the stage in ten minutes, the opening band still warming up the crowd that was quickly gathering inside the Alibi. Behind the scenes each member of ROARKE was tending to whatever pre-performance ritual they might have. Someone was bouncing repeatedly on the balls of their feet and judging from the soft clack of drumsticks to hardwood, yet another member was warming up in the 'dressing room.' Kaden tended to center himself rather quietly before a gig - standing off to the side, just where he could see the crowd, watching their reactions, getting a read for them. Not every audience was the same, you could read them and what they wanted if you paid enough attention. He did - it was one part of the many things that made him a good frontman. It was as if he had a sixth sense for the varying crowds, always knew exactly what to give them.

Eventually their warm up act stepped off stage and the small sound crew that worked on the bar's stage moved to arrange their equiptment. They'd soundchecked earlier in the day, would do so briefly again, but everything should be ready to go. A set list was taped to the amp facing his mic and from where he stood, Kaden's eyes traced over the numbers he'd picked again, just to be sure. There was a ballad or two they'd need to take out, tonight's group wasn't the type for anything too slow, too mellow. They were wired up and wanted something that was truly going to give them a reason to move. Keeping it fast paced and loud was clearly the way to go.

He was always the last to take the stage - if he had any tradition it was that. The lights would dim to near complete darkness as the others made their way out, tinkered around for a moment to make sure that everything was still in tune, still set to go. He came last, sliding up to the mic without the glare of those blasted spotlights on him, readying himself for the glare that was sometimes almost too much; a vampire's favorite place to be was definitely not under a complete set of high powered lights. When they rose tonight it was slowly enough that his eyes could adjust, that he could prepare himself for the brightness ahead. They revealed nothing particularly spectacular, the group all on stage ready to go, their frontman clad as usual in nothing more than a pair of jeans, a henley and one of many black jackets he tended to sport. That didn't stop the female portion of expressing their gratitude, not that it was all for him of course.

"Ladies and gentleman," the sound man's voice came over the system announcing the band as Kaden adjusted the mic stand, "please give it up for ROARKE!" They wasted no time with silly on-stage banter, it wasn't why people where there anyway. They wanted music, they wanted it to be good, and the band was going to waste no time in giving it to them. Hand wrapped around the mic, the count began - it wasn't long until Kaden's voice was filling the bar, floating out into the night.

WHO; ALPHONSINE & KADEN
WHEN; Thursday, in the evening
WHERE: The Alibi Room
WHAT; Ally is behind the bar at work when Kaden comes in to book a show for his band
RATING; G, can be changed if necessary

The cocktail bar is open from four in the evening until two in the morning; since it is still a little too sunny for the woman at four, she leaves her apartment in the Towers as soon as it is possible. Management initially was not thrilled with her request to come in later once the seasons changed and it was lighter for longer, but they considered her a valuable employee as she often stayed longer than anyone else could or would even want to. Tonight may very well be one of those nights.

It was not especially busy, not all at once, but the patrons had been coming in a steady and consistent trickle. That suited Ally just fine. As she moved about behind the bar, she liked to keep her eyes open for people she knew and others she might like to come to know. Every place had their usuals and tonight, a few had been seated at and around the bar. As she poured another glass of Rosemont Shiraz for a woman named Elizabeth, Ally smiled, because she really did enjoy what she did. This was a very social occupation; it was easy to come to know people, if they wanted to be known, and she liked the atmosphere.

One sleeve of her light, plum sweater was pushed above her elbow, then the other, and she tucked a stray strand of blonde behind her ear. Even as the other ladies wore flat shoes, since they were on their feet all night, she liked to wear heels. They were not always in the best shape, since spills did happen from time to time, but overall, she was an attractive woman with a natural beauty and required little fuss or make-up. Eternal youth had that bonus, after all.

During one of the lulls in service, Ally leaned shifted her weight into her hips and leaned against the counter. Tables scattered the room in an organized fashion with small, lit laterns as centerpieces. There was the restaurant upstairsm, with the bar and the club scene downstairs. DJs came in on the weekends and during the week, exceptional local bands often books their shows. Her pechant for bars and clubs, for their atmospheres and agreeable hours, had allowed her to come to know a lot of bands and their members.

One of which, had just come down the stairs.