Nicci Normandin (chemicalshell) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2011-08-12 22:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-08-19, dominic, nicci |
Wake me up, I know I am drowning in the blood from a pitch black heart
Who: Nicci and Dominic
Where: A bar
When: Evening
If someone had told him a few years ago that he’d someday be sitting in some shitty little bar in Michigan and sleeping on his half-sister’s couch, Dominic would have outright laughed in their face. Seriously, how in the hell did he end up all the way out here? He was an Agostino and he had standards, after all. And Savvy had been all over him that afternoon, wanting to know what he was doing that night and if he wanted to hang out and everything. The answer to that would always be no. Her couch was better than a hotel... he guessed. But it didn’t change how he felt about Savvy, nothing would. She was pack because she was his father’s daughter, and that was about it.
Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Keira had to take him back, because otherwise none of this would be worth it.
So, even though he’d set out for the night without any specific plans in place, Dominic somehow found himself in a bar. Surprise, surprise. He took a seat at the counter, flagged down the bartender with a wave of a hand, and ordered a beer. Seeing as he didn’t quite yet know what he was going to do tonight, he didn’t want to get shitfaced immediately - that could always come later. For now, the wolf scanned the bar, seeing a few pool tables off to the side. If nothing else, maybe he could make some money here.
The fact that the new semester would be starting soon meant blow-out parties every night of the week. It was a good system. Later in the night, Nicci and Fluffy might hit up a party, but Nicci had needed to stop first and refill her stash. After meeting with her dealer (one of several, anyway) in the parking lot, she headed in to the bathroom. Three lines of blow off the sink later, Nicci was feeling pretty fucking great. She leaned against the sink, letting her forehead touch the mirror as she waited for the initial jitters to pass. It’d take a while to get the full effect, but she felt better knowing it was coming - and knowing that she had enough in her purse to get her through the night.
Once she finally left the background, Nicci was feeling like a queen again. Grinning confidently, she parted ways with Fluffy and headed to the bar. She squeezed in next to some blond guy (Rock had grown his hair out that long once, all she’d ever wanted to do was play with it), and waited for the bartender to pay her proper attention. She inhaled deeply as she waited, and that’s when she caught the scent of wolf. Raising an eyebrow, she looked to the blond guy. Bingo. Huh. Thought I knew all of the wolves in SO. “How’s it going?”
The one thing that caught Dominic’s attention first was her scent. Though he’d been a wolf for a few years, he hadn’t actually met any except in passing, and that was probably a good thing. Camilla had always told him he’d had an alpha personality and if he had a pack, you could bet your ass he’d be alpha of it. Still, he was sitting alone, in the bar, with no plans for the night. And when he glanced over at the girl who just sat next to him? Pity he was mated, because she had legs that went on for miles and he liked that in a girl.
So Dominic gave her something like a smile and raised his beer in her direction. “Hello yourself,” he said, taking a sip. Something else about her seemed - off. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what, but her eyes looked a little too bright to be natural. At least, not with the crappy lighting in here.
He wasn’t the only alpha in the room, though alpha females weren’t usually held in such high regard - which, if you asked Nicci, was utter bullshit. Strong women usually ruled everything - and it had certainly been no different with her parents. Her dad might as well have been non-existent. It was her mom who kept shit running, her mom that always got her way, and her mom who had the way scarier temper as far as her kids were concerned. Of course, Nicci couldn’t tell he was an alpha yet. He was just a random wolf she didn’t know. She was currently undecided on how she felt about that.
The bartender finally came round and she looked to him briefly. “Vodka and red bull,” she said. She had a big night ahead of her. “Make sure Fluffy’s got shots or she’s gonna be pissed.” Oh yeah, they’d been here before. When he was gone, she looked back to the blond wolf. She liked his hair. She couldn’t look at it without thinking of Rock. “I haven’t seen you before,” she said. “I thought I knew every pack wolf in A2.”
Dom wasn’t the type to get into the male versus female bullshit, and especially not with other wolves. As far as he was concerned, he’d always be better than everyone else around him and that was the end of it. Though the girls in his life, his mate and his twin, were arguably probably the two most important people he’d ever met. Keira, because she was his, damn it, and Camilla, because Dominic needed to protect her. Simple as that.
If it made her feel any better, Dominic too was trying to figure out how to handle another wolf, and he was surprised they hadn’t started circling each other and sniffing. He liked to think he was in more control of his instincts than that, even if he hadn’t been born with them. And hearing her mention someone named Fluffy? Maybe he ought to be on the lookout for other wolves here, too. “That would be because I’m not from Ann Arbor,” he said. Nor do I have a pack. Technically anyway. Because Savvy only half-counted. “Just got here a few days ago. I’m Dominic.”
Hm. Interesting. He wasn’t from another Ann Arbor pack, so that was good. But he was an outsider on her territory. That was... probably bad. Maybe bad. Nicci was torn, but in a good enough mood to see where this went. “Well then, I should welcome you to the area,” she said. The bartender brought her drink and she raised it briefly before sipping. Alcohol and cocaine were just fucking made to go together. In ten minutes everything would be fucking right in the world. “I’m Nicci. Where are you from?”
He raised his glass to her and took a long sip of his own. Dominic knew he was territorial to an extent, but he hadn’t really claimed territory here. Back home? He’d be all over that shit. He was hoping he’d be able to talk Keira into returning with him and therefore he wouldn’t have to think about things like getting an apartment here. Because staying on Savvy’s couch? Yeah, no, that wasn’t lasting forever, not if he could change it. “New York City. Whole family’s from out there.” And little backwater Scarlet Oak? Paled in comparison to the sights he was used to. But hey, at least he could always find parking, and the traffic here pissed him off less. Way less.
The answer made Nicci snort, there was no help for it. After she sniffled and rubbed her nose, and shook her head before taking another drink. “Oh, honey. What the hell are you doing here?” Because seriously. If it weren’t for the pack issue she would have been in New York City. Or Los Angeles. Or anywhere but here.
And of course, that was a lie anyway. She wouldn’t be. She’d be here because Rock might come back, and she had to be here if that happened. She didn’t know exactly where Rock was, so she couldn’t go to him. This was the only other option.
Staring down into his beer for a second, Dominic shook his head. “I ask myself that every god damn day.” What was worse - being miserable and alone in New York, where at least Camilla was around to keep him company, or being miserable and alone in Michigan, where he had the vain hope of seeing Keira again? He knew that, if he could just see her - just get her to listen - maybe things would be all right. “It’s a long story, but the short version is that I’m not here by choice. Trying to find someone I used to know.” Someone who’d run off and taken his heart and a good chunk of his sanity with her.
Well that was an interesting answer. Nicci wasn’t used to sad bastard tales when she wasn’t the sad bastard. “Another wolf?” she asked. “I might know them.” Would know them, she knew every fucking wolf, she made it a point to know every fucking wolf. That had been habit even before she’d started looking at her options. Her father had told her once that it was the alpha in her personality. Her mother had told her it was because she was smart.
Dom wasn’t used to telling sad bastard tales to anyone who’d listen, because like hell he’d ever present himself as being weak. Fuck, he was his father’s son and that meant he’d get through anything. If he could deal with the moons and relearning his magic, then he could talk Keira into coming back, too. “No, she’s not a wolf. Human.” Witch. Like he used to be. Like he was, only he was a shitty witch now. He remembered the spells he used to be capable of and the destruction he’d been able to cause, but those days were behind him now.
Nicci shrugged and sipped her drink again. She knew her fair share of humans too, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about that. If he offered a name, that was another thing. “You won’t be staying long then?” Her alarm over a strange wolf in her area was mostly subsided. He could have been trouble, could have even been interesting, but if he would blow through town then he was nothing. She heard a shout and turned in her stool, making sure it wasn’t coming from something Fluffy-related. It wasn’t, but she stayed that way anyway, half leaning against the bar and half facing Dom. She was still straight enough to be on constant guard, but she was starting to feel a little more... chill wasn’t the word. Blow did the opposite, made her feel like she could run a thousand laps around the town and never once tire, and sometimes she was so jittery she felt like her eyes would pop out of her head, but there was a certain peace to it, too. She felt confident, like nothing could hurt her. It was a great way to feel.
Her shift in posture made him pause, figuring she’d had something a little more than just that vodka and Redbull - or the drink just did numbers on her, who knew. Dominic knew his tolerance had gotten better since being turned, so maybe that wasn’t a wolf thing like he’d originally thought. “Not sure yet,” he said. “Depends on how long it takes me to track her down, talk some sense into her, and tell her to come back home.” All things that were easier said than done, but Dominic had high hopes. He had to, otherwise he might as well end his days getting drunk at a poker table. “What about you? I take it you’ve lived here since forever?” Hell, he could at least try to make friends while he was here.
Again with the saying of interesting things. Nicci raised an eyebrow. “Sister or girlfriend?” Sounded like someone was in the doghouse - a private joke with herself that made her want to giggle. She didn’t, which only meant that the shit hadn’t kicked in yet. “Ever and ever,” she answered, not missing a beat. “Daddy was alpha to one of the largest SO packs, his daddy before him, and my brother now.” Because Daddy is a weakling who got schooled by one of his own pups. Idiot.
Saying Dominic was in the doghouse was being quite nice about it. He and Keira had a screaming match in the middle of his hospital room, for crying out loud, and he’d just let her walk away. He’d always figured he’d be able to call, but she’d walked out and left him like it never even mattered. If only he could shut off every instinct that tied him to her and start over... “Girlfriend,” he admitted. And Nicci was a wolf, she could probably figure out what that meant. Fuck, he didn’t want to say it out loud. And apparently her whole family had this wolf thing down. He made a mental note never to run into her brother, because Dominic couldn’t imagine what running into another alpha male would be like for him. It would end badly, he knew that much. “Nice. Bet that means you’ve got yourself a nice little niche cut out for you.” Like the mafia, but with teeth instead of guns. Dom still preferred the mob.
Oh, but he really did. To Nicci, it would never ever occur to her that there was another wolf out there stupid enough to do what she had done. It was sort of the number one rule of being a wolf. Rule number one: keep it in your pants unless you both have fur. Rule number two: Seriously, dude, don’t be an idiot. Her mother had drilled it into her head every day since puberty, and she’d still blown her off. She smiled faintly. “Doesn’t sound like she’s your girlfriend anymore, honey.” If you left New York Fucking City because of a guy, that was pretty clear.
Still smiling pleasantly enough, she gave a shrug. “It’s not a bad deal. We’re more organized than most in the area. Some of the others are downright savage.”
If nothing else, Dominic knew it was stupid. But hell, he hadn’t known this would be his fate. He’d slept with Keira not three days after he’d been turned, the night after he’d tracked down and murdered Camilla’s rapists. Because seriously? You did not fuck with his twin sister and think you could get away with it and if that meant giving up his magic in order to track them down, that was exactly what he’d done. The mating for life thing had been one little perk his former best friend had neglected to mention before he’d let Ashton bite him. “I’m hoping I can change her mind about that.” He had to have hope, otherwise his life was going to just continue its downward spiral and take his sanity along with it.
He nodded, peeling the label of his beer as he watched her. “Never been part of an organized pack. I imagine that’s probably a good thing, even if I like to do things myself.” Because then Dominic could ensure things got done, and efficient motherfucker was efficient.
Nicci shook her head and scratched her nose quickly. “Better to find yourself a wolf. Save yourself a lot of heartache in the end.” Not that she was offering. Well, she might have, if she knew he was an alpha type. That was to be determined. Still, didn’t his parents teach him anything? Of course, things became immediately clearer as the conversation went on. “Ohhhhhhh...” Well. That explained a lot. Silly little halfbreeds, trying to hold on to their humanity. Hopeless. “You’re new.” It wasn’t a question. She looked back at him with a leveled expression. “When were you bitten?”
Dominic snorted. “I wish. We’re beyond that point now.” Meaning: he was fucked six ways from Sunday and everyone knew it. Well, anyone who knew how he’d been when he and Keira were together, anyway. It wasn’t so much that Dominic was trying to hold on to his humanity, because one could argue that that the demonic blood in his veins meant he hadn’t really been good at being a decent human being to begin with, but hey, he had his moments. He glanced down at his hand, and the tiny half-moon scar there. “Not entirely new. Been three years.”
And just like that, Nicci nearly lost her buzz. Her throat went dry and her hands clenched into fists, nevermind the fact that she was still holding her glass. Her thumb actually broke through a chunk of it, and she looked down at it as if she was wondering how in the fuck that had happened. Well. Great. I’m not the only fucking moron on four legs. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath, before waving the bartender over. He didn’t seem at all surprised that she had broken her glass. “Shots,” she said. “For both of us. Leave the bottle.” When the bartender left to fulfill her request, she looked back to Dominic. “Turn her and fuck her. Immediately, and by any means necessary. Save yourself a lot of sanity and heartbreak in the long run.”
He heard more than saw the glass break, and he looked over for a second. And then his brain put two and two together. I’m not the only one who did it. Mated and got fucked over. Thank god Nicci had ordered shots because if they were going to talk about this, it was best he had a lot more alcohol in his system. Tons more. All thoughts of trying to find someone to play poker or bet on a game or anything were gone from his head now. “She was there when I was turned. Saw what happened to me. She wouldn’t go willingly.” There was also the fact that Dominic couldn’t guarantee she’d turn into a wolf, either. After all, he’d been bitten by a were-coyote, and Ashton didn’t mate for life. But then again Ashton wouldn’t know what commitment looked like if it walked up to him and grabbed him by the balls, so his form was fitting. “I know she’s close... and that’s it.”
Nicci let out a little laugh at his answer. It had a bitter tone to it. “I didn’t say shit about ‘willingly,’” she pointed out. “If it’s the only shot you’ve got, take it. Or find yourself a silver bullet and a funeral home and save yourself a lot of bullshit.” Nicci had officially lost her happy. She was going to have to fight tooth and fucking nail to get it back. She found herself wishing she knew where Rock was, for the billionth goddamn time. Probably California. California was a big state. When the bartender came back, she poured the shots and threw hers back immediately. Usually she’d make the guy do the pouring, but she suddenly didn’t have the energy for the attitude.
Turning Keira would mean she’d lose her magic, the same as he’d lost his. Well, not lost, but it was a lot less potent, which was kind of the same thing. Fuck, Savvy was a better witch than him! How the hell did that even work out? “I’ve been trying to ignore the silver bullet part,” he said, “by any means and distractions necessary.” Dominic reached out for the glass and took his shot not half a second after Nicci did, then reached over to refill the glasses. No sense in wasting alcohol when it was clearly sitting there in front of him. “You say that like you know exactly how that feels. And if that’s the case, fuck, I’m sorry.” And he was. Dominic was not a man who said that sort of thing lightly.
“Distractions are good,” Nicci confirmed, knocking back another shot. She wouldn’t even think of stopping until they hit the bottom of the bottle, and then she’d go to the bathroom, do a few more bumps, and start with another fucking bottle. That sounded like an awesome plan. “This helps,” she declared, holding her glass in the air. “A little.” It wasn’t enough on its own, not for her. She gave Dominic a sideways glance and snorted again. She was pretty sure they were past the guessing games. “Yeah, everyone’s real sorry. Everyone but the one who fucking needs to be.” She gestured for him to set up another round. “Why did she leave?”
“Dulls it, anyway.” And dull was good, most days. Dominic wondered which was better; wasting his life in a bar like this, or blowing his dad’s fortune on a card game. Tonight the alcohol was winning, and at this rate he was going to feel it sooner rather than later, wolf or not. “Isn’t that the truth.” He shook his head, downing the shot and slamming the glass back down with almost enough force to break it. “She had a hard time with it, the wolf thing. We fought. She fucked my best friend. I fought with him, I fought with her... and then she walked out on me. Haven’t seen her since.” He could still see the look on her face as she’d walked out of the hospital room. Eyes red from crying, but still with the same stubborn determination he’d always loved about her.
That was a story Nicci could relate to, kind of. “I would have killed him,” she said, conversational as could be. “Both of them, maybe.” Yeah, probably. In that sort of situation, rage won over. “I’m surprised you didn’t,” she realized. “Newbies aren’t exactly known for their rage control.” That could be scary shit. Your brain blacking out, but your body kept going, wanting nothing but blood and destruction and not giving a single fuck where it came from. Or who.
At that, Dominic gave her something of a sadistic little grin. If only the girl knew what he was capable of, before and after he’d been turned. “Trust me, I tried. He’s a were-coyote, no fucking spine whatsoever. He ran for his life, and that’s the only reason he still lives.” And he was dead serious as he said that, too. “As it was, I’d ended up in the hospital afterward. Accelerated healing only gets you so far. If I see him again, I’d put money on me being the one who wins.” Dominic wasn’t known for his rage control, period. He realized bad decisions only after he’d made them.
Rock used to look at her that way. She felt a pang of hurt and tried to ignore it. Nicci took her third shot and laughed. “Coyotes are little bitches. Nature’s asshole. A lot of their instincts mimic wolves but when push comes to shove, they just don’t have the stones.” Yeah, she’d put her money on a wolf with any amount of experience over a coyote. But she wasn’t biased. Of course not. “Funny thing about that healing, it doesn’t seem to fix the shit that actually counts.”
Dominic couldn’t help it, he laughed at that. It wasn’t a happy laugh, but it was a laugh regardless. “Oh, it’s funny because it’s true. He talked so much shit and yet he knew I’d put him in his fucking place.” If Ashton had any sense whatsoever, he’d steer clear of Dominic for the rest of forever. But Ashton wasn’t that smart, never would be. He quieted a bit at the last part, “Yeah, it doesn’t. Nothing does. That’s why it’s time to swallow my pride and track her down.” Sorry wasn’t going to be easy to say, but for Keira? He’d try.
“Quick bite and fuck,” Nicci said again, pouring round number four. She still sometimes wished she’d done that, though the fucking part would have been difficult to manage. Guys were harder to force. If she had it to do over again she probably wouldn’t have done it, if nothing else because she would have waffled back and forth too much. Would the change take away what made him... him? She didn’t like to think about it, but she could never stop thinking about it. Fuck.
Round four went down as easily as rounds one, two, and three, though Dominic did pause after this one, feeling the alcohol a little now. What would Savvy do when he came back to her apartment drunker than hell? Nothing, that’s what. She wouldn’t dare try to tell him to knock it off, even if he knew she’d be worried. He just couldn’t be convinced to care. “I’ll have to keep that in mind...” It would take Keira’s magic away like it had taken his. Could he knowingly put someone else through that? …Yes, but it was different when you loved someone. His brow furrowed as he reached for the bottle, holding onto it for a moment before pouring anything.
Nicci watched him without saying anything for a bit, letting that idea digest. And, okay, she had to wallow in her own sadness a little too. Her chest hurt with it. Dammit, this was the kind of thing she did to get away from the hurt. “Welcome to the dumb wolves club, I guess,” she sighed, before hitting number five. It had to be having an effect on her, but she was too wrapped up in the shit that was her own brain to notice. “Best of luck to you.” It’d be nice if someone got a happy ending. For once.
“There’s a club? Do we get membership cards and secret handshakes?” Dominic wasn’t good at holding back his snark when he was sober, and he wasn’t any better when he was drunk, either. As far as he was concerned, he was at least trying to fix his life, by admitting that he needed Keira. Wasn’t that the first step, admitting you had a problem? “So, you know my sob story. Your turn.” The least he could do was listen, even if they both knew there was nothing they could do to help the other out.
“Sure, why not. Usually it’s part of a jack daniels label. Or the card you use to cut lines with. Either is equally acceptable. For the handshake we generally just cry until we pass out, wake up, and go kick somebody in the balls.” Nicci had never actually talked to another wolf who had gotten themselves in the same clusterfuck she had. It was so weird talking about it with someone that wasn’t Fluffy. Kind of interesting, since he could relate and all, but it was a nerve-wracking thing all the same. She knocked shot number six, and when she noticed the glass shaking slightly she set it down and began twisting her ring nervously. “I was fifteen,” she said. Her throat felt so fucking dry. “Puppy love.” No, there was no hiding the venom in her voice with that phrase. “We thought we’d be together forever and it didn’t matter if we waited or not, even though my mom told me a million times that it was the worst thing you could do. We lasted two years before I caught him with another girl. Then shit just got ‘too real’ for him.”
His smile was sad, but at least it was genuine. Dominic liked this girl, he did. They were both fucked up in ways that would never be fixed, but hell, it was nice knowing that he wasn’t alone in this, even if their situations were vastly different. “I think I’ll make other people cry until they pass up and wake them up by kicking them in the balls.” Dom refused to ever admit that he cried. Only Camilla knew that and it wasn’t often and that was only because she was his twin. He wasn’t too far gone to notice the way she played with her ring, or the way she was fidgeting. “Everyone thinks you’ll be together forever at that point. Like the world was made of sunshine and roses and all that shit.” He liked to believe that he’d been more realistic. It taken him a year to get Keira to let him take her out on a date. A year. “Shit, kid, I’m sorry.”
Nicci’s expression was much the same, though she shot him a brief look at being called kid. He couldn’t have been much older than her. Rock’s age, probably. Fuck everything. “Shit happens,” she mumbled, before forcing herself to plaster a big smile on her face. “Call me that again and you’ll be my daily ballkick.” She was kidding. Probably. She could have tried to figure out if she was kidding or not, but she shrugged it off. “I haven’t seen him in five years. Spoken to him in almost as long. He doesn’t want anything to do with all there were bullshit.”
She was younger than him, Dominic could tell that much. Probably around Savvy’s age. And Savvy? Would last about 30 seconds around Nicci, which was definitely winning Nicci bonus points in his book. He let out a chuckle, “Noted.” He knocked back his most recent shot - was this four or five? He was pretty sure five - and let the glass spin around on the bartop for a moment, lucky it didn’t break. “It’s been - just shy of three years, for me. I don’t think that it was the were thing, per se... it was me.” Because he’d fucked up. Because he’d let her walk away.
Oh, Jesus. This was getting way too heavy. Nicci sighed and poured another round. This would be her seventh, and certainly not her last. “Did you love her?” she asked, looking up at him. “Like, really? Before you were turned? Or did you get stuck with her by accident?” Because she could see how that kind of thing would happen. It wasn’t like newly bitten weres got guide manuals in the mail when they were turned. Not before the light of May, anyway.
Dominic closed his eyes for a second. He could still see all the details of Keira’s face, the way she wore her hair, everything, even without a picture to remind him. He still had pictures, of course, but he’d only brought a few with him. His answer was immediate. “I did. And I do. She was my girlfriend before all this shit went down.” One finger traced the small half-moon bite mark on the back of his hand, clearly made by human teeth. “I just didn’t know what I’d done until after it was too late.” Would it have changed his mind? Probably not.
Yeah. Nicci knew the answer before he said it, just by the way he looked. Too bad, she thought. He wouldn’t want her killed. That was always an option. Not for her, but theoretically, for other people. “I bet that’s not so uncommon,” she said, shrugging lightly again. Okay, so the jitters were kicking in. She just wasn’t enjoying them as much as she normally did. “You know, real wolves don’t even mate for life. It’s a myth. They’re monogamous, but not... you know, stuck. S.O.L. the way we are. For some reason, nature just decided the wolf-people had it too fucking awesome.”
No, he had heard that he could unmate himself that way. Though the thought of killing someone didn’t even so much as make him flinch, Keira was his. And as such, no one was ever going to lay a hand on her, even if he couldn’t convince her that they needed to be back together. “I suppose.” He hadn’t run into it, anyway. “Huh. That figures.” All this time and he hadn’t really looked into the form he turned into, for fuck’s sake. He was big for a wolf, and he was grey, and he could be a killing machine. That had always been enough for him. Camilla probably did, though. She would, knowing I would ask her about it someday. “Probably worried we’d get too awesome and take over fucking everything.”
That thought made Nicci grin. “We would, too. Get a big enough pack with enough powerful people and they’re pretty damn unstoppable.” She couldn’t remember the last time her pack had been opposed. From the outside, anyway. He wasn’t going to count that whole Mason thing. I should continue with this, she thought. This was a nice, light conversation topic. And yet the next thing to come out of her mouth was not nice, light, and fluffy. “If she won’t come back. What will you do?”
“I was always unstoppable,” he pointed out. “Now I can track better and run faster. Suppose there’s a trade off for everything.” Granted, a wolf’s senses were great, and if nothing else Dominic did like that part. But there was nothing like the rush of a perfectly executed spell, and that was a rarity for him now. He’d still gotten his familiar, and that meant he was slowly but surely putting that side of his life back together, no matter what Matteo said. But his brain lost that train of thought with her next question. “I don’t know. Gamble and drink my money away, probably.”
That was an interesting thought. Nicci cocked her head to the side. “I never tried gambling,” she thought out loud. She was pretty sure one massive kegger up north with Fluffy had ended up in some Indian casino, but the details were fuzzy. “Shopping sprees though. Throwing my parents money at shit nobody needs. It was okay.” Gambling was potentially really throwing money away, though. That could be fun.
“It’s the only thing that makes me feel alive anymore. That rush, knowing you’re gonna win, best distraction ever.” Oh yes, it was an addiction. Nicci clearly had her own issues, and just because Dominic wasn’t as chemically dependent as she was didn’t mean he didn’t have his own flaws to deal with. “My brother, he decided it would be a good idea to take me to Atlantic City one weekend, tried to cheer me up. I won several grand. Dante walked out broke. He doesn’t go gambling with me anymore.”
Nicci had a feeling that wouldn’t work for her, but she found she was glad it worked for him. She could try to fight it, but if she went by how she felt straight and sober, she could never win at anything that mattered, so what was the point? She grinned anyway. Her eyes weren’t fully in it, but she was working on that. “Sounds like fun. You gotta go with what works.”
“Works for me anyway. Who knows, maybe you could try it someday. Even if you end up throwing away money, I promise you it’s a rush.” He’d yet to see a decent sports game here he could bet on. Surely they showed Yankees games out here, didn’t they? The whole damn country should watch Yankees games, but that was his completely biased opinion. Dominic reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards, something he was almost never without now.
We all find our tricks, Nicci thought, with an amused look on her face. It looked like he carried his cards around the way she carried a fix. She always had something on her. A fix, a back-up fix, the emergency fix... yeah, everyone found their ways. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said as she thought it over. She wasn’t a bad poker player, though she hadn’t played in a long time. Not that she remembered anyway. It was one of those things you picked up when you had a lot of brothers. “I’m just waiting for the day some race horse or greyhound is outed as a were,” she said. “That’s gonna be such an epic shitstorm.”
That assumption was actually pretty accurate. Dominic had a few decks he was partial to, and switched them out whenever one deck ceased to be “lucky” - though he was sure he made his own luck more often than not. If he got him through one more night without breaking down and thinking about Keira, he was going to go with it. “You know, it wouldn’t surprise me. I’d just be pissed if I lost a lot of money on the fucker.” Or if he’d won a lot and then he didn’t get paid for it because of cheating or some shit.
“A were wouldn’t lose,” Nicci pointed out with a smirk. The Olympics were gonna be a lot more interesting next time, that was for sure. And by ‘interesting’ she meant ‘total balls out clusterfuck.’ “Did you know about this kind of stuff before you were turned?” For the hell of it, she poured another round. She was trying to stop thinking about Rock, and she’d lost count of shots, but... well, hell, it wasn’t like she was gonna quit any time soon anyway. No use pretending.
Dominic too had lost count of how many shots they were on by now, and he knew better than to drive himself home. He probably still would, and his familiar would probably tell him it was a bad idea come morning, but Crowe was definitely not here right now and therefore Dominic didn’t have to deal with him. “Then maybe I need to figure out which one’s the were and put all my money on him.” He knocked back the shot and this one hit him a little harder, so it took him a moment to put the words together to answer her question. “The supernatural stuff? Oh yeah. Might not’ve known everything about everything, but I knew enough.” Seriously, he was still a witch - just not a very good one - and demonic blooded, with a psychic half-sister and a were-coyote for a former best friend.
That put him up on a lot of people, Nicci would have wagered. She took her shot and all but dropped the glass on the bar-top. “Sometimes shit still surprises me. I thought I was so enlightened.” And then there were demons, and now there were angels, and any day now she’d find out there were unicorns and she’d be pissed because she never even got that fucking pony she wanted, and a pony was nothing compared to a unicorn. Oh yeah, she was definitely tripping out now.
He snorted, playing with his shot glass a little, letting it slide from one hand to the other. His deck of cards he left on the counter, untouched for the moment. “Oh, things’ll likely get worse before they get better,” he pointed out. “I’m just gonna sit back and watch what happens. Probably with popcorn and soda.” Or beer and tequila, whatever worked. Even Matteo had said that the Light of May had probably been a bad idea, because now people were looking in places they wouldn’t before. Dominic wasn’t sure how that was going to play out for his dad’s mob business, but he knew his dad was smart enough not to get caught. They all were.
Probably a better idea than the vodka and heroin cocktails Nicci had been doing on May 1st, but it didn’t sound nearly as fun. “I’d say they can’t get much worse, but I’d hate to jinx, you know, society. Vampire blood was a fun thing to find out about.” Her fucking favorite actually. “But eventually I’m sure humans will find a way to take the joy out of that, too.”
Where had he been May 1st? The restaurant, talking the whole thing over with Dante and his father. The Agostinos had always been quietly powerful, and they made a point to stay that way. Dominic, for his part, didn’t brag about being a werewolf, but around another were it wasn’t like he could hide it. “You can always count on society to screw things up, one way or another. Just like clockwork.” Seriously, look at how the demons had been handled. He’d never be a target and he’d never seek to make himself one. “...vampire blood?” Nope, he hadn’t tried that. Blood, to him, was really only good for magic and even then it hadn’t been his forte.
Nicci grinned, a little too gone to keep shit like that to herself at this point, and she never really denied that kind of stuff anyway. “It’s wild,” she said. “You never tried it? Makes you feel...” She tilted her head to the side, examining her toppled over shot glass as she thought about it. “Like, okay, like... okay. When you were a little kid, and you didn’t know enough to be cynical and jaded anymore. Like your parents rented out Disneyworld on Christmas goddamn morning and told you to just go nuts and wreck the joint. But Disneyworld is, you know, the world, and you’re an adult, and even if you are cynical and jaded you feel too powerful to care anymore. You don’t give a fuck what you do because you feel like you have magic inside you and outside you and it’s all connected and just. Fucking. Awesome.” So, she was a fan, basically.
….Wait. Dominic knew he was drunk, and knew his thinking was not quite up to where it should be. But drinking vampire blood? Oh, he’d hung around a lot of crazy-ass people, Ashton being his best friend and all for so long, but dude. No. He’d never done that. The way she described it felt a bit like gambling did to him, so he supposed he could understand... but no. Just no. “Huh.” He stared at her blankly for a second, then shook his head. “That, I will admit, had never even crossed my mind to try. Probably for the best that I haven’t.” He never been big into drugs. Smoked some pot, sure, everyone did at some point, but the hardcore stuff? Just give him a bottle of good liquor and he’d be set, thanks.
For some reason, Nicci found that reaction absolutely hilarious. The look on his face! She leaned against the bar and laughed loudly, and it took a few seconds to get it out of her system. “The gambler doesn’t gamble with his life then!” she declared loudly. “Good call. Don’t start. Horrible habit.” And then she snickered some more, and righted her shot glass as she reached for the bottle.
“Oh honey, if you only knew. Just not with blood.” Seriously, how could you drink it? Dominic had grown up in a high-end Italian restaurant, he was picky about that sort of shit. He was a good cook but even he couldn’t pair anything with it. He’d rather drink himself to death than figure out what vampire blood would do to him. If he was being honest? Nicci really shouldn’t give him ideas, because half the time Dominic didn’t think things through before he acted. It was how he’d ended up a wolf, after all.
Once Nicci stopped giggling again, she realized that was kind of an interesting answer, and she turned a little more to face him. The shot glass she’d refilled was forgotten. For now. “What with, then?” she asked. Maybe he had more tricks she didn’t. Or maybe the idea just freaked him out and he was trying to cover it up. Nicci had known a lot of people like that. In some ways she understood it, but in others... well, you know. Disneyland!
Yes, the idea did freak him out a bit, but not really because it was dangerous. Dominic had always been a part of “dangerous,” had probably done things that had never crossed Nicci’s mind. She wanted to turn her ex so she could mate to him - not kill him. Dominic had. It was the reason why he’d allowed himself to be turned, so he could do just that. If that wasn’t gambling with his life he didn’t know what was. “Let’s just say that I’ve made a few decisions in life that would make other people flinch. Or run straight to church to confess all their sins because they couldn’t live with it anymore.” Dominic had done what he needed to, in order to keep his sister safe, and to get her justice. All this was a little too somber for him to be thinking about, right up there with Keira, so he grabbed the bottle - and damn, there wasn’t that much left of it now - and poured them each other another.
Yup. Nicci had decided. Freaked out. “Congrats, you just described, like... every Friday night I’ve had the past few years. Cheers.” She raised her glass and drank it down, then dropped the empty glass on the floor carelessly. The bartender didn’t even look over. Bartenders loved Nicci. Sure, she caused a scene, but she was a hell of a tipper. “Come on. Wow me with something. You tell me one of your shockers and I’ll tell you one of mine.”
What were the chances Nicci would even remember she’d met him after tonight was over? He’d seen the amount of alcohol they’d had, so they were probably pretty slim. So he leaned in, stared the girl in the eye, and said, “I let myself be turned so I could hunt down the fuckers who attacked my sister. Left her for dead. Trust me, they paid for it.” Every. last. one. Perhaps it was fitting, that he’d become a wolf, if only for the pack mentality he carried long before he’d actually been changed. “If you do that every Friday night, well, color me impressed.”
Huh. No, he had her there. “I don’t have a sister,” she said. Some small, far away part of her brain realized that was a really weird thing to say first, and she shrugged again. “I would though. If anyone hurt my brothers I’d follow them to the ends of the earth. The people with nothing left to lose are always the worst to fuck with.” She frowned thoughtfully, staring down at the ground at the broken glass and wondering when that had happened. “Is your sister okay now?”
“She’s my twin.” Younger than him, and not identical, but still, his twin. Anyone who ever thought they’d lay a hand on her would meet his fist first. “You’re right. Funny, I thought I was on top of the world then. Lost a lot because of that.” Like Keira. Like his magic. He didn’t think about it, downing that shot he’d been staring at for a few seconds now. “Mostly. Some things you don’t ever completely recover from.” Camilla could say she was fine, but she couldn’t hide things from Dominic, and especially not after he’d been bitten.
“So now here you are, with nothing left to lose, back to win the love of your life!” Nicci said, waving an arm dramatically. “Damn near a movie.” Hell, she could see that being a movie. She grinned again, but it had an edge to it. “That might be the difference between you and me. You can still hope you have something to gain. And I’m just...” She trailed off, lowering her arm and sighing. Dammit all, how did she keep going down the dark paths? “You gamble because there’s something you could actually win. I do because I just want something to make me forget for a few precious minutes. We just do it in different ways. What a fuckin’ tragedy.”
“Something like that.” If his life was a movie, he wasn’t sure he was going to get a happy ending. Nicci was right; Dominic still had hope. He had to, otherwise that god-awful desperate feeling, the insanity always at the edge of his consciousness, was going to get the best of him. I think it already got the best of her. “We all got our vices,” he said, “and it ain’t over yet.” Maybe her boy would come back. Maybe she’d succeed in her “bite and fuck” routine, Dominic didn’t know. He wasn’t really the kind of guy to tell someone to chin up and that they’d make it through, unless it was Camilla, but still. “We’re trying, and we’re surviving. Somehow.”
The idea of survival made Nicci laugh. Loudly. “Who decided that survival was all that great?” What a puppy. If Nicci had the guts to abandon her mate she would have ended it a long time ago. The idea of it just being over was such a peaceful, tempting thought. And one that she just didn’t have it in her to accept. “I hope you get her back. Really I do. But if you don’t...” Nicci didn’t end that thought, she just shook her head, and abandoned that line of thought altogether. “You need any help?”
Dominic just stared at her for a long moment. Survival was, at the moment, all he could do, because he was too stubborn to just lay down and let this kill him. If he was, then he never would have bothered to come out here, ready to beg Keira to take him back no matter how hard his pride tried to resist doing just that. She’s more gone than you are. Maybe it was just being without her mate for so long, Dominic didn’t know, but he did realize one thing in his alcohol-clouded mind: He didn’t want to end up like Nicci. He wanted to think he was stronger than that. “I will let you know,” he said, raising his glass to her and finding it was empty. Come to think of it, their bottle was getting pretty low, too. “Hey bartender! We need another one of these.” He grabbed the bottle and waved it in his direction.
Well look at that. They did indeed. Nicci grinned and leaned against the bar, and when she noted him scurrying to comply, she looked at Dominic again. She had enough sense to fish a card out of her purse, and she put it on the bar before him. “It’ll stand. I know the town, the packs, the territories, a lot of people... if I can do anything to help, I will. But tonight, I say we drink until the world goes black.” Another wide grin, and she slipped off of the barstool. She even managed to remain standing! “Be right back though. I’ve got to powder my nose.”
He took the card, flipped it in his fingers like a pro used to dealing with cards - because hello, gambler! - and tucked in his pocket. “I’d appreciate that,” he said. Then, leaning over the bar to steal a pen he could see on the other side, he grabbed a napkin and scrawled his name and number on it. Chances were she might not be able to tell what his last name was, writing was hard when he was drunk, but hey, at least he tried. “Maybe some day I can return the favor. Drinking until oblivion is the best idea we’ve had all night.” He nodded as she left, looking back over at the bartender. Seriously, someone needed to hurry up with their drinks or they weren’t getting tipped tonight.