I kissed your lips and I tasted blood
WHO: Lex and Via WHERE: On the streets of Scarlet Oak WHEN: 10:30 pm
Sylvia Cohen was born in 1915, which meant that when WWII began, she was 24 years old. Having grown up in the Bronx, New York, Via spent her twenties in Paris, France. This meant that poor old American Jew Sylvia Cohen was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After she escaped she relocated to London, England where a team of people were fighting to bring down Adolf Hitler. This was where Via met Lexington Bostwick. He was possibly the most vile man she’d ever met in her entire existence, but since she was a new vampire, Via was not very confident in herself and she looked up to Lex who had been older and wiser than her in more ways than one. She soon understood that there was nothing that she would ever want to look up to that man for as he was the most arrogant and misogynistic man she’d ever had the misfortune to know.
On an evening like tonight, Via was exploring the new city she’d just moved to. She’d already been plenty welcomed by a local elected official and was now taking the chance to understand it herself. Via was always on the cell phone. As long as there were cellphones, Via has had one and uses it constantly. So, walking down one street or another, Via spoke into her cellphone at one of the project managers back in New York. “Yes Julia, I understand that the prints haven’t come back yet but I need you to start working on that layout because I need to see them off to the advertisers by Friday.” she spoke into her cellphone. Normally she might be huddled around paperwork she had these calls, but she needed to understand her way around town. It was then a man much taller than her, a vampire it seemed, collided with her, throwing her cellphone to the floor. She leaned down to pick her cellphone up when she realized who it was that had just bombarded into her. She stood, grabbed her phone and put it to her ear. “Julia, I’m going to have to call you back.” and with that she hung up her cellphone. “Hello Lex.” she said with a smug grin.
Back during World War II, Lex didn’t entirely give a fuck for either side. It was just some silly mortal war and it didn’t pertain to him in even the slightest... until he was hired to be in an elite black ops group to battle against the Germans. Hey, it was good money and certainly impressed people these days. Definitely an A++ on the assassin resume. Though those times were long gone now and Lex had bigger things to focus on, like making sure Ad Gustum was always full on its blood orders and making sure Tanith wasn’t making his life miserable, which explained why the vampire was out on the streets to begin with. The past couple of days had grated on his nerves and he wanted nothing more than to hunt down some dumb girl and drink from her. Hunting never got old and the thrill of it just made him want it even more. And he was tracking someone down for a good ten minutes now, ready to slip into the shadows and go for the kill until- Is that...?! Oh, it can’t be.
Pausing dead in his tracks, Lex slowly looked over his shoulder to spot an old, familiar face. That voice brought so many memories back, particularly pertaining to a fresh, new vampire who was so naive at the time. But now stood before him a highly confident woman. Figures. All of them are these days. And now she had interrupted him sinking his fangs into a meal. Letting out a gentle sigh, he turned to face her properly, returning the smug grin with one of his own. “Sylvia,” he acknowledged her with a nod, even if his voice was anything but accepting. “Fancy seeing you here, love. Been awhile, now hasn’t it? You look... the same.” Sort of. A bit more polished than he last remembered, but he wasn’t going to give her that sort of compliment. Besides, he was quite certain his current look was an utter downgrade in comparison to the uniform getup she saw him in last. Lex could have been easily mistaken for some cheap, punk kid with a trenchcoat and scarf. An odd sight for summer, though how else was he suppose to hide concealed weapons?
Her eyes squinted at him as she could sense some kind of anguish. Perhaps she’d merely interrupted a meal or maybe Lex had some place to be but she didn’t care either way. She eyed his wardrobe and shook her head. “And you look worse. I hope you don’t mind me saying but this look doesn’t really work for you.” she said with a smirk. There was nothing more she really wanted to say to the other vampire other than ‘take a bath’ or ‘excuse me you’re in my way’ but ever the Cyri, she continued on, pretending to be interesting in a conversation with him. “I haven’t seen you in, oh I’d say about 50-60 years, give or take. What brings you to the states?” she asked him, not really anxious to hold a conversation with the man, but figuring something polite would be sufficient. Still, she knew that he wasn’t fond of women or especially women who talked back, so she was sure he’d have something to say about that. Placing her phone back into her clutch, she looked up at him to hear what he’d have to say.
Wow, that was a nice way of saying ‘Oh and by the way, you look like fucking shit.’ Leave it to some bloody woman to have some power go straight through her head and then abuse the hell out of it. Lex held his ground and shot her a bit of a sneer. A smack in the face would do her some good, but she brought up an excellent question that he also wished to ask her. Perhaps being somewhat diplomatic was key in this scenario. “The Americans brought me here after they found me prisoner to the Germans. Didn’t truly have a choice in the matter. Besides, business on the black market has been booming and I’m finding myself quite comfortable here.” And that was all she truly needed to know. She knew of his mission years ago, so he could only imagine she wouldn’t be shocked at the fact he was still sneaking around and being a bastard. “I should ask the same for you, love. I take it the Germans missed one, hmm?” He smirked at her, a slight glint of his fangs showing as his eyes scanned over her. Might as well check her out in all her modern glamor while he had the chance.
If there was anything that Via was sensitive about it was the war and her escape from it. “Kindly, and with all my love, fuck you.” she said, a grin on her face that really was just mask for the anger she felt toward him. “Obviously you didn’t know that I was still alive because you don’t seem to care a lick about your appearance anymore. I’m here designing.” she said, raising her brow. “And I have to stress, yet again that look really doesn’t suit you. Grungy hobo was so last year.” she said, adjusting her clutch beneath her arm. Lex was the last person on earth that Via even wanted to remotely see, but she would get her hits in while she still could. After all, the likelihood that she’d even remotely go in his direction, or not run in the other direction when she saw him was slim to none. He disgusted her more than any man, woman, vampire, werewolf, or whatever had ever even come close to.
Oh, he knew she was sensitive about that topic and was proud that he struck such a note with her. He kept grinning in self-amusement while watching Via, knowing it had to have struck a nerve somewhere in her dead body. Tilting his head to the side, an eyebrow slowly raised up while he processed her words. “...designing? Someone trusted you with fashion?” He was aware that he wasn’t some sleek and modern man, mostly still living in the past and not minding his grungier style. It fit when he was on the streets doing work. Not to mention no one ever expected someone dressed like that to be an assassin. “Well then, if it bothers you so much, perhaps you should make me something new, or is that too much work for you, Via?” There was that snide smile again, though this time he had the balls to reach out and place a hand under her chin to lift it up and inspect her some more. “This look definitely suits you. Looking lovely as always.”
“Oh I’m sure, anything that makes me look like a housewife so you can tell me to shut up and get into the kitchen. I’ll have you know that if you say anything to the like I’ll bite your head off faster than the speed of sound. Mk?” she said with a demeaning tone. Sure, he could be misogynistic, but Via could also be pretty vile when it came to throwing out insults. She’d learned from the best of them, having remembered a time with Lex when she was wide eyed and innocent, latching onto his every word. “Oh and don’t be too sad about the holocaust, you aren’t part of the chosen people, and I’m sure that really gets your goat but not all of us can be perfect, oh except for me you know.” And while Via was plenty good at keeping up with the current fashion of this era, her figures of speech were lagging behind. It didn’t matter though, whatever Via said and whatever way she went about it was what the world would be doing in no time flat.
Lex closed his eyes and sighed lightly, mentally reminding himself that he was stupid enough to take the naive little vampire under his wing years ago. Here he thought she wouldn’t last six months and surprise! She was standing there before him, trying to be intimidating. Lovely... Upon opening his blue eyes, he eyed Via, not one bit amused. “I’d be thoroughly amused to see you try, honestly.” Then again, a street brawl wasn’t really his idea of a good time when he was hungry at that very moment. “You’re far from perfect, love, though you still haven’t lost your charm, so maybe you’re close enough.” He gave her a somewhat uplifting smile. It was half that and half disgusted. “Why don’t you keep me company tonight? Perhaps we can stop by that vamp bar and grab a drink, catch up on the times, hm?” Truly, Lex didn’t give a crap about what she had been up to, but he wasn’t too keen on adding yet another enemy to his roster tonight. Being somewhat civil was ideal right then. Besides, he was hungry enough to go as low as grabbing a drink at Heme. Ooo, they would have fire elemental blood there. This actually sounded like a good idea for once.
Via might have actually taken him up on his offer, considering the fact that she’d been new to town and was terribly unacquainted with anybody who might be willing to lend out there bodies for regular blood. So, she’d been stuck to looking for hunters and hanging out Heme when she clearly didn’t want to. However, today, she was busy with work and she shook her head. “Maybe another time, I’ve got work to do. But, it looks like you’re around, so maybe I’ll see your ugly mug again.” she said, thankful that he was being a little more civil than he had right off the bat. Yes, he was still a misogynistic pig who got to her very core, but being a Cyri, keeping up public appearances and making friends instead of enemies was very much apart of who she was in the family. “Vamp bars though, really not my scene.” she simply stated. She thought herself a little more refined than the vamp bar in town, even if she had made her way there once before, she wasn’t really willing to do it again.
In all honesty, Heme wasn’t really his type of scene other. It was too... flashy? Was that even the right word? A combination of vampires who thought they were equal to humans and humans who were more or less the groupie equivalent to vampires just made Lex not want to go there. Though desperate times called for desperate measures and a drink sounded awesome right then and- lovely, she wasn’t interested. Maybe that was a good thing, because god forbid if anyone thought it was a smart move to leave Via and Lex alone. Part of him was pretty sure she was declining the offer just to kick him in the balls, though he merely laughed it off. “You’re on my turf, love. You have no choice but to get used to me. Though if you want something more classy than some run of the mill bar, I know just the place for you to check out.” And with a quick sleight of hand, he revealed a small business card from the folds of his jacket and handed it to Via. It was for Ad Gustum, of course, and the description was rather vague, but it was better than saying ‘We whore out everyone to vampires.’ Besides, it was far more elegant than that. “It’s one area of employment right now and I assure you it only offers the best.” Lex might have been an ass, but he prided too much in his work to slip up on that. When he had a job to do, he did a damn good job.
Via hesitantly took the card from him and stared at it for a moment while he described it. She was still unsure and pretty vague on what he was talking about since she had actually been distracted from work to stand there and have a discussion with this man. So, instead of questioning him more on what kind of place he might be talking about or wondering if he was trying to be cheeky with her, she decided that she didn’t much care at this point. No, she thought, she had to ask. “What kind of place? Another vamp bar?” she asked him, completely uninterested in going to a different vamp bar. Sure, at the moment Via was anything but picky. She had plenty of men and women ready and wiling to give their blood to her and let her feed on them back in New York, but this was a new town and finding someone like that was not so easy. So far, she’d had to rely on the kindness of strangers. She did have to get back to that call, but if this was somewhere she might be able to get some sort of blood doll, she might just be interested.
An amused laugh escaped Lex as she questioned him, bearing his fangs and all at the thought. Another bar? Really? Lex would have grown bored with a job like that fast. Though Via looked like she was trying to get a legit answer from him, thus when his laughter finally died down, he merely shook his head. “Better than that.” With a complete more steps, he came up closer to Via and leaned in to speak lowly to her. “It’s a high-end brothel that caters to vampires. All sorts of exotic ladies and gentlemen to please your tastes.” Straightening back up, he tilted his chin up and smirked. “Even have several slaves at our disposal, if you’re into that type of thing. And if we don’t have something that you like, we can have something special ordered just for you.” Which was a nice way of saying Lex would track someone down and drag them back to Ad Gustum. Hey, someone had to do the job and he was being paid top dollar for it. “Far better than Heme, if I do say so myself, and I can only imagine a... fashion designer such as yourself would have enough money to indulge on a little blood, no?”
“A little blood perhaps.” she said to him, pressing a surprisingly strong finger, cold in the center of his chest. She pushed him up and not so close to her as the last thing Via would ever want was Lex getting any kind of impression. “But I don’t need your whores. Lest you forget I was a model once upon a time. I haven’t magically gotten any wrinkles since then.” she said, a rather annoyed smile on her face. She was proud of the fact that she was beautiful. It was part of her life, hell she’d made it that way. Yet, any point in which someone might have suggested that she would be so desperate she was quick witted in her response to them. She thought about it for a second, whether or not it would just be a bad, bad idea to do any kind of business with this man or if it might be worth her while. She stood there for a moment and rolled her eyes the slightest bit. “Do you have some sort of phone number or something tangent in case I’m desperate?” she asked him, figuring it’d be at least worth checking out. If she didn’t like it, she wouldn’t bother taking her business there.
Lex rolled his eyes at her mention of being a model. That bit of information was fuzzy in his memory, but he did know she made a fabulous model. Not that he’d give her the pleasure of knowing that. He’d keep watching and enjoying from afar, thank you very much. “How could I ever forget, love.” Well, Via did do an amazing job at leaving an impression, regardless if it was a good or bad one. Kind of like how he sort of enjoyed her finger poking at him, but there was a twitch in the back of his mind that eagerly wanted to snap it. And he kept watching her as she seemed to dwell on the idea of Ad Gustum for a minute, finally grinning as she gave an ounce an interest. “But of course. Anything for the lady,” he teased Via while pulling out a pen from the inner folds of his jacket and then swiped the card away from her. He took a second to scribble out several numbers for her along with an address before handing it back to her. Now it was no longer a vague business card and now contained valuable information. “The first one is to the main desk, the second one is to the madame of the place, Domina, and the last one is my own if wish to get a hold of me.” Who knew, maybe she’d get drunk off of psychic blood one night and dial his number late at night. Lex was all for that. “Glad that I can be somewhat of assistance to you, love.” The remark was partially sarcastic, though also somewhat hard to decipher due to the way his eyes scanned over her. Lex never changed over all those years and was perfectly content with that.
She looked down at the card and immediately grabbed a pen from her clutch. She took it to the card and crossed out the last line with a smirk. “That last one wont be necessary.” she said, and stuffed both the pen and the card back into her clutch. “As always Lex, it was a pleasure. You should consider raising your eyes when you walk, I have excellent balance but I’m guessing that fewer than half of this population is the same.” she said, digging in her clutch again to find another card. She handed it to Lex and smirked. “Lose the trench coat, keep the black though it suits you nicely. This one is on me, consider it a fashion gift. He’ll make sure you look good.” The card was for that of a tailor, one that worked closely with Via and had recently moved to Ann Arbor. She used him on dresses mostly, her own since she would hardly just buy a dress the way it was, but he was good company and thought Lex could use the upgrade. Not being very large, even in three inch heels, Via stood on her tip toes to adjusted his scarf until she felt it looked good. “Much better.” she said, before grabbing at her phone and walking around him. “Au revoir.” she said and merely waved her dainty hand as she walked on.
Damn. Wishful thinking on his part, but it was worth a shot. At least he could still linger his eyes on her. That never grew old. He raised an eyebrow at the tiny card she gave to him and looked it over. Whether this was actually Via being nice or giving him a slap in the face was beyond him. Not like Lex ever cared that much about his appearance, just as long as there were enough layers for him to hide weapons and it was dark enough to blend in the shadows, all was well. Then again, maybe getting something new for his wardrobe wasn’t that bad. Ladies did know more about fashion than he ever would. What the hell did a street rat from the Industrial Revolution even remotely know about fashion? If that didn’t work out, maybe he could give it to Garrick. Lex curled his lip out lightly while nodding at the card, taken off guard as Via readjusted his scarf. He perked up a second too late as she stepped back and by then she was walking off. Awesome, you had a chance to cope a feel and off it went! Grumbling to himself, he stared at Via some more before calling back out to her. “I’ll see you around, love!” Turning on his heels, he walked off in the opposite direction before muttering under his breath, “Bloody women from my past coming back to bite me in the ass...” That said, he slipped into the nearest shadow and faded away.