What if I wanted to break? Laugh it all off in your face Who: Jezebelle and Lex Where: Ad Gustom When: Late Afternoon
Jezebelle was not one to forgive and forget, but she was willing to push differences aside when it suited her. When it came to blood, there were only so many reliable sources, and she'd been neglecting one in particular due to a rather violent last run-in. If Kieron had come through with several bottles of product, she might not have been knocking on Ad Gustom's door, but as it was she needed more than the human blood hunter could provide. All it took was swallowing her pride and hoping that Lex wouldn't attack her on site. True, it was against the rules of their house, but when did the Shades follow their own rules?
Lex had been busy filling up the blood orders for Ad Gustum, making sure everything was in tip-top shape. He didn't entirely have time for himself these days and was open when it came to his "side job." After Pyotr called him off on the second proposition to track down the rival drug dealer - which he was 110% sure was Jezebelle - he felt a fire burn inside of him. One of immense hatred. Oh, he wanted to track down that bitch and make her pay for what she did to him. To a superior, nonetheless! And that human she was with... he was certain that was the reason Dixen abandoned her to begin with. Stupid woman.
It was almost evening and Lex was still waking up, sipping on some warm blood that had a hint of whiskey in it. Like he gave a crap if there was alcohol in it. He was just happy to curl up in his quarters and be at rest... until one of the receptionists called and said there was someone in the lobby looking for him. The bloody hell...? Apparently it was a female vampire and Lex only knew of one off the top of his head. Growling lowly at the thought, he stormed on out from his quarters, clad in just a pair of tight jeans and a baggy long sleeved shirt, and briskly made his way to the lobby. Upon spotting Jezebelle, he scoffed loudly and rolled his eyes. "You have some nerve showing your lovely little face around here," he paused to take another sip of blood before continuing with a smirk. "Though you must have misheard me when I told you about this place; it's a whore house for vampires, not a whore house of vampires. Sorry, we're not hiring."
"So how much does it cost to have you on your knees? You know a pretty face is worth nothing if you can't keep that tongue of yours under control," Jezebelle snapped back. There were very few people in this world that she'd drop all sense of civility for and Lex had managed to make the list. If he'd attempted to maintain his manners, she would have done the same, but with an opening like that she wasn't going to take it lying down... much as he might want her to. Jezebelle had never been able to stand Lex, primarily due to his treatment of women. He reminded her far too much of her husband, and if he'd been human she would have done away with him years ago. Seeing as how he was a vampire, and an elder one at that, she had to put up with him for eternity. That wouldn't have been so bad if they were residing on different continent, but somehow they'd ended up in the same damn town.
Really? She just said that? What the hell was with the ladies in this damn town driving Lex up a wall?! He couldn't get his two cents out without having his words twisted in someway. It almost sounded like something Tanith would- Oh good god, that's the LAST person Jezebelle needs to meet. Lex had to control himself enough to not shatter his coffee mug that was in his hands, though his cold glare was probably enough to spell out how the vampire felt. "Only way I'd get on my knees for anyone is if you cut my head off," he spat right back at her, leaning against the wall while staring her down. Seriously, what the hell did she expect him to say when the last time they met involved her stabbing him with a silver stiletto? "The hell do you want, Jezebelle? You made it quite clear last time that you didn't want me around, yet here you are tracking me down. Fascinating." Nothing but cold, bitter sarcasm dripping from his words while giving her a snide smile. This was going to be interesting.
"Oh, dear, aren't you wound tight," Jezebelle said, surprised at the smile that found it's way to her face. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been bent out of shape, but he'd had perfectly good reason to be. This time, however, she couldn't fathom why he'd be so horribly pissed off to begin with. The Lex she knew would normally be rubbing her nose in the fact that she needed his help, pointing out that every woman alive needed the help of a man to survive. "I didn't want you in my basement, attacking what's mine," Jezebelle pointed out. "I didn't come here to argue with you, but if you'd like to start that up, I can take you up on that challenge of yours." With a little smirk, her head tilted to the side, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I'm sure you've crawled up enough girl's skirts in your time. Don't tell me you've stopped now that you have a whole whore house to yourself."
It was hard not to be wound up tight when half of the women in Ad Gustum drove him up a wall. He would have loved to shove that bit into Jezebelle's face, but her comment mirrored too closely to Tanith's that it just... well, yeah. "I just woke up, give me a bloody break." There was a bit of a snarl as he took another gulp of blood, wishing he could place the cup to the side and just drag the wench by the hair and throw her out. He really didn't want to deal with her, especially when Pyotr called off the task. Having Jezebelle here now was like dangling a prize above his head while screaming 'NEENER!' Oh, and it didn't help that the whole whore house was not to his disposal. Kitty was, but Kitty wasn't everyone. "I keep myself entertained here, as I'm sure you're keeping yourself entertained with your... pet." He wasn't sure what else to call the elemental. Lex was certain Jezebelle was getting her kicks out of him in numerous ways. "I don't blame Dixen for throwing you out. First you act like a common whore and cheat on him, then you act like a modern woman with such a tongue like that. You should be thankful this isn't the 1800s. You could lose your pretty tongue for acting out like that." He took several steps to Jezebelle, keep several feet of distance from her before smirking some more. "And we wouldn't want that to happen. So many better uses for it."
"Better for his pride that he threw me out," Jezebelle said, head held high as her fingers clenched around the soft material of her dress. "If he'd waited another week, I'd have left him anyways." She knew that now, but she hadn't known that then. Losing Dixen wasn't the crisis, so much as losing everything that connected to him. Most of all, she'd lost her shop, but even that could be rebuilt. "You know my issue with men? They're hypocrites. He'd been with over 200 women since the time I met him, but I show an interest in one and he calls it cheating. If he hadn't been my sire, I'd have never stayed with him that long. Loyalty does not equal endless adoration." There were so many things that she had learned since leaving Dixen, the majority of them to do with Graham. He was always willing to point out how she accepted him, but she could definitely say the same in return. "You are such a charmer," Jezebelle smirked, drawing closer to him. "Is this approach working for you? I know I'm young in comparison, but in my time you didn't get girls by acting like an ass. Now would you like to talk business, or keep bickering in the entryway? I'm sure inquisitive eyes and ears are enjoying the show."
Lex rolled his eyes while she rambled on about Dixen's affairs and her own. In his mind, she deserved to be abandoned for cheating on him like that. Lex came from a different time, a different upbringing. Everything he did made perfectly logical sense and anyone who thought otherwise would be shot down. Though sadly, Jezebelle had a point about talking in the entryway. The receptionist was thankfully turning a blind eye to the situation and while the entire area was rigged with security cameras, they proved useless in the presence of two Shade vampires. With his cold blue eyes piercing through Jezebelle, he swiftly grabbed her wrist and yanked at her to follow him on out of the main room. His grip was tight and relentless, but not enough to break her bone. Oh, Lex wished to do more than that to the stupid bitch. He remained quiet as he dragged her down the hallway and flung open one of the doors to an empty bedroom, chucking Jezebelle on inside and slammed the door behind himself.
"This approach always works for me," he snarled lowly at the vampire, quickly closing the gap between the two of them to stare her down. "In my time, you had to be the fucking prick to get as much as a loaf of bread. You had to be ruthless in order to get attention, may it be from colleagues or the ladies. And unlike you-" He suddenly launched his hand out to grab the woman's face and held it tightly in his clutches, forcing her to stare into his eyes. "-You who works the streets and acts like she knows everything about, yet was raised in the lap of luxury while sucking on a silver cock, I am the streets. I grew up on them and I still live by them. So don't you dare question me, woman, unless you like the idea of your tongue being cut out by a burning, silver blade." That said, he tossed her face away and took several steps back. He wanted to do much more to Jezebelle, mostly put the woman through the same pain she inflicted onto him, but now was not the time or place to do so. "That said, are you going to be a good little girl and mind her manners? Hmm? For someone who grew up in such class, mummy and daddy didn't do a good job at teaching you to hold your tongue." He folded his arms while giving her a tense look, "What do you want from me, Jezebelle?"
With the way that he dragged her along, Jezebelle could not help but struggle in his grip. It was to tight, enough to bruise if she were human, and it reminded her of the way her husband had handled her when she was alive. By the time they made it into an empty room, she had to reign herself in to keep from slapping him, and then he took the liberty of grabbing her face. As someone who'd had her jaw broken before in a similar fashion, Jezebelle went from being angry to a cross between panic and rage. It was one thing to push each other's buttons, but Lex had managed to get under her skin in a way that would do nothing for her manners. "How dare you," she snared. "Do not presume to know what my human life was like. What I was taught was the same as you-- to survive. The assumption that life was easy just because I was born into money is a false one. I do not pretend to know what you went through, nor would I compare the two, but I did not live this long by being a good little girl. I'm not about to start now." Every fiber of her body wanted to walk out the door and never see Lex again. He was just the sort of man she would have killed as a human, the sort who got off on pushing women around. If he weren't her superior, she would have killed him now without a second thought. "I am looking to buy blood. Headtrip and mindfuck, if you've got it, or any variant of blood infused with coke."
That was perfectly alright, seeing that Lex was fighting the urge to wring her pretty little neck until her head popped off. In some ways, they were the same - both struggled to survive against each and every odd thrown against them and both were ruthless and precise in what they did best. Sadly, they would probably never see on eye-to-eye. Lex didn't plan on getting along with Jezebelle anytime soon, regardless of the fact they were technically family. She was below him in so many ways and she would remain in that inferior position. "Headtrip and mindfuck?" Oh, Lex knew those terms all too well. Anyone pursuing the life of a blood hunter had to. Letting out a sharp whistle, he snickered lightly before continuing, "That's a serious order you got there, love. Have a vamp customer who needs a fix desperately? If I were them, I'd just feed off of the homeless junkies in the city." He couldn't help but keep smirking at her request, ridiculously smug over the fact she was crawling to him for help. "Ad Gustum typically doesn't sell to third party members - people usually come directly to us for what they want. Though depending on how badly you need said order, I might be able to figure something out to benefit both of us."
Jezebelle was still trying to calm herself down, unable to simply will away the memories that had been brought so close to the surface. The first two men that she'd killed had been poisoned, but since then she'd learned to hold her own in a knife fight. She had not come to call upon Lex unarmed, but knew that actually attacking him would create more havoc in her life than she desired. Still, it would have been nice to stab him a couple hundred times, even if it would heal back up in time. "I do not intend to resell, if that's your concern. Consider me a customer." Her lips were tight and her stance was rigid. Should he come near her again, it would come to blows, simply because Jezebelle could not stand the idea of him touching her once more.
"Buying for yourself then? Now isn't that very unladylike for you." He clicked his tongue on mocking disapproval towards her. "I suppose it must be difficult for you to get your fix when you can't snort your own concoction. Though I must say," Lex began to circle around Jezebelle, pausing behind her only to bringing his lips to her ear, "you don't strike me as the type who's into blow. Nor as the type who would ask a blood hunter for assistance if this is something you desired so deeply." Particularly someone like himself. Lex could only imagine how desperate she became if she thought going to him was an excellent idea. While remaining where he was, he brought a cold finger to the back of her neck, trailing it slowly down her exposed back. "How much do you need, love?"
Normally this would not have been enough to set Jezebelle off, but being already on pins and needles she whipped around to face him, fangs bared. "Do. Not. Touch. Me," she said, hatred burning in her eyes as she glared back at him. Without providing him with an answer, she headed straight for the door, no longer willing to do business with him. It wasn't worth it, even if it was for Graham. She could make a run to the nearest mental hospital and pick up something decent just by jumping through shadows. Spending another night or two on the streets, she could drain a decent amount off local junkies, even if it meant going to Detroit in order to find a better selection. She was far more comfortable with her alternatives now that she'd paid Lex a visit. Anything was more appealing than this.
"My my, isn't someone touchy?" Lex wasn't taken back by her sudden bout of anger. A woman never scared him. Acting fast on his feet, he bolted to the door and obstruct Jezebelle's way, leaning against it while looking back at her with icy eyes. "One little touch and you get your knickers all messed up," he shook his head while taking the liberty to look her over. Maybe she wouldn't let him touch her, but he sure as fuck was going to stare until the end of time itself. "That's a shame, especially when I have your exact order stashed away upstairs. By the gallon, actually. You'd be surprised how many junkie vampires come to us. Then again, cocaine seems like the type of drug rich, prissy girls spend daddy's money on."
Jezebelle had never done cocaine as a human, and she rarely drank from those who did, but she wasn't about to tell Lex that it was for Graham. More than likely, he'd deny her the product, no matter how much he had, and even if that wasn't a problem then he'd still know that Graham was a vampire. She wanted to avoid that revelation as long as possible. "I would rather go without than buy from you at this point." There was no real logic there, seeing as how he could easily provide what she needed, but it meant dealing with him when all she wanted was to be out the door. "Stand aside or I will leave by other means."
Lex? Give into a woman's demand? Yeah right. And this time around he had something to back up his motives. "Leave by other means? You mean use force against me? My dear Jezebelle, do you really think that would work? I know you're such a rebellious woman and all, but would you let that go to your head and attack a Shade that's above you on the food chain? I didn't bother to let the higher ups know what you had done to me before, but I promise you they'll know if you plan to do so now. And all because I'm offering you something you need?" He scoffed while rolling his eyes. "Besides, I wouldn't want to leave a fellow Shade in such need of a fix." A smirk swept across his lips while he eyes her, keeping a close watch in case she decided to pull anything on him.
"So proud," Jezebelle smirked. "If you knew me at all, you'd know that's not how I operate. You've lost yourself a customer, Lexingon. One you might have had for centuries. Your tongue's so sharp it cuts you open. Pity you can't bleed to death." She stepped back then, rather than forward, allowing herself to sink into the shadows of the room. Before he could get another word in, she was gone, using the low lighting to take her as far as the front door. With a little wave, she walked out, doubting he would go so far as to run after her. If he needed to make the sale, he could come to her, but then he best be prepared to beg.
For someone who was superb at what he did for a living, Lex tended to fall flat in some departments, like remembering she could blink on out of the room just like he could. Pride was a massive vice for the vampire and sometimes it went to his head too much. At least enough to leave him standing there, jaw dropped in sheer stupidity at what just happened. Yup, Jezebelle went the non-violent route and left him looking like a babbling idiot. After blinking his eyes, he scoffed loudly before chucking his mug of blood across the room and proceeded to shatter it into the parallel wall. Damn bitch was not going to get the best out of him. She came here and made him look like an idiot. How dare she! Though there was no sense in chasing her down. Besides, he was still waking up. Grumbling to himself, he walked on out of the room and made his way down the hall while calling out to one of the maids in the mansion. "Get me a cup of warmed blood in three minutes, unless you like the idea of your feather duster doubling as a butt plug."