Girls' Night Who: Domina and Kayla When: Evening Where: A club in Ann Arbor What: Talking? Drinking? Stuff and things?
Every summer, Kayla’s parents took a break - a four-week Mediterranean cruise. And this year? This year was the first year Kayla was left home alone for the duration.
Okay, so her brother was there, too, but he totally didn’t count. And he was working doubletime keeping the place running in their father’s absence, anyway, so he was gone so much as to be practically nonexistent as a guardian. So, home alone. And she was loving it. They’d freaked during the whole vampire-killing-mess, practically kept her confined to the house 24/7 - and forget leaving it after sundown. It had driven her insane, but she’d suffered through knowing they’d be leaving soon. Minus a scare where her mother almost cancelled the trip. But her father talked reason and the vampire trouble died down, curfew was lifted, and Kayla was waving goodbye (from the video chat on her iPhone; they’d had to leave the house WAY too early to catch a flight to Italy for her tastes.)
Her first day of freedom was spent fairly productively in her eyes - she did some work for some independent projects she had going on, played around with the toaster oven she’d taken apart, then met the girls for some dinner. Of course they’d decided to go clubbing after, so after breaking briefly to go home and change, they headed out to Ann Arbor. Ensconced in the VIP section of one of the better clubs (inasmuch as Ann Arbor really had any ‘good’ clubs, at least), Kayla found herself extricating herself from the dance floor and heading back to their seats to sip a vodka tonic obtained via the help of a little flirtation and an opportunistic UMich student.
Pappa Moriarty had wrangled up Domina some friends. Or attempted it, anyway. Domina had been informed that afternoon that she was going out to dinner with a few girls her own age for a change, and she hadn’t objected. Daddy had a point. She had been a little pre-occupied with work lately. And while she could tell Daddy was proud of her newfound ambition, it had to be a little concerning. And Daddy finding her age-appropriate daughters of the right people of Ann Arbor, she’d been happy to go along with it.
Unfortunately, they were all boring as shit.
All cookie-cutter preppy girls with no real ideas of their own, all of them painfully human, and all of them a little bit terrified of Domina. At least that part had been fun at first. But halfway through the dinner when it was painfully clear that she would never have anything in common with these squeaky clean little bitches and they had nothing to offer her, she’d mentally checked out. Sure, they were all from the right families, but none of them had a name in the same league as Moriarty. They needed her, not the other way around. All the same, when one of the girls suggested a club after dinner, Domina had gone along with it. Mainly because it was easy to ditch her whitebread minions immediately after entering the door. She found a sucker to buy her a drink, and after ditching him too, she set out to scope out the club.
It was nice to have a break, but Kayla was just about to go rejoin her friends, being tired of the skeezy, potbellied fifty-something leering at her from the corner, when unusually red hair caught her attention. Underneath that fire-engine-red hair was a somewhat familiar face, and Kayla tossed back the remainder of her drink, setting the glass aside before getting up and making her approach.
"Hey, Domina," she greeted, voice pitched loudly enough to be heard over the pounding music as she got close. Kayla was used to remembering more names and faces than usual - something she just had a knack for - and introduced herself again. After all, she'd really only had the one conversation with Domina, and a brief one at that. She wouldn't be surprised if the other girl didn't remember. "It's Kayla Chao. We met at your father's benefit - for the kidnapped teens?" Her smile was warm and welcoming - Kayla didn't usually know how to do anything else unless someone was pissing her off.
The voice wasn’t recognizable to Domina, but even before she turned around to see who was calling out to her she knew the scent. That scent was something that Domina was sure she could never forget, because it was so different. It was human, but she didn’t smell like any other human Domina had ever encountered. She’d forgotten somehow (well, it was easy to get distracted with Ad Gustum business), but it all flooded back to her as she turned around and smiled. “Of course, I remember you. Good to see you, Kayla! How have you been?” She had really dropped the ball. This girl was too much a curiosity to forget.
"Not too bad," Kayla said cheerfully. "Just screwing around, mostly. Last summer before college and all, you know? I mean, I've got some study programs going on but nothing I can't take care of with breakfast." Challenging and interesting, but not too much so. She didn't want to start at UMich already feeling burned out - and she was going to have some pretty heavy courseloads going on if she wanted to graduate on time and go to grad school. Which she did.
"What about you?" Kayla had seen the Moriarty drama on the news, of course - fighting a demon? Insane, and super brave. And of course it had been a subject in nearly all the gossip circles at the country club. Kayla wasn't quite sure of the etiquette of mentioning the incident, so she decided not to say anything unless Domina referenced it first. "Enjoying your summer? Vampire murder sprees aside, that is. I’m so glad there’s not a sundown curfew anymore.”
Geek girl, huh? That was somewhat disappointing. Not that it turned down Domina’s curiosity at all. “Oh, I’ve just been establishing myself in town,” Domina replied, breezily as could be in the middle of a loud club. “I didn’t pay much attention to the curfew. I’m eighteen, anyway. It only affected my sister. If I really wanted out, I just flew.” No, Domina Moriarty did not hide what she was. She flaunted it. And so did her father. “The vampires didn’t bother me so much as the demons. I get on well with vampires, I know quite a few. They’re all perfectly respectable.” At least from a business standpoint.
"Oh my god, I wish I could fly," Kayla said with a laugh. "I'm legal, too, but I don't think anyone told that to my parents. They went batshit when everything started going crazy - I was practically under house arrest. Like, forget going out when the demons were running around, and they made me be back by sundown during the vampire thing. I mean, I snuck out when I needed to, but it's so much more inconvenient when I have to do that, you know?" It was no secret Kayla had a fascination with the supernatural - she read as much about them as she could find, had spirited debates with her like-minded friends as to which flavor of supernatural creature she would be if given a choice. Weres and vampires were the two most popular with her friends, being the ones that were easiest to be turned into, but Kayla wasn't sure she'd want to go the bitten were route, not with the whole full-moon-craziness thing, and she really didn't want to be an 18 year old forever. Hello, that was so Twilight. No thanks. Maybe after she finished grad school, if she really wanted to die. Which was a big probably not. But witchcraft... she'd thought of studying that more in-depth once or twice, seeing if it was something she had an aptitude for. Who knew?
"Where do you meet vampires?" she asked curiously. "Do you go to Heme a lot? If I was a vampire, I don't know how much I'd really go there - it's got to be annoying to be stared at by tourists all the time."
Of course, the real answer wasn’t one Domina could give. They’re clients. I sell them blood, sex, and occasionally an unwilling slave. I offer free body disposal with that one. It’s quite the deal. She smiled cheerfully and shrugged. “Oh, you know. With Daddy’s line of work, they’re always around. I’ve been around vampires since I was just a little bitty girl. Of course, none of them have ever bitten me without express permission.” And permission was readily given. You hadn’t lived until you had a vampire in bed. And then broken said bed. Kayla’s curiosity did not go unnoticed, however, and Domina saw this as a possible golden opportunity. One to be played very, very carefully, but... hey, why not? “No, I don’t go to Heme much, but if you wanted, I’d be happy to introduce you to a vampire sometime. Though I’ll be honest, they may like you a little too much,” she added with a wink.
Kayla was absolutely fascinated. What was it like to be around vampires so often that it was no big thing? Then again, Domina was a were herself, so she'd been born into that secret club that the rest of the world, Kayla including, was just now realizing existed. What was old hat to Domina was still shiny and new to Kayla, and it showed in her face. "So you let them bite you?" she asked, eyes widening. "I mean, what even made you give permission the first time?" Obviously she was getting something out of it if she was a repeat donor. Kayla had heard the stories, of course, but she remained a little skeptical.
"I think my parents would flip their shit if I went to Heme," Kayla said with a laugh. "So I guess if we go, I just won't tell them, now will I?" She'd thought about it, but... well, it might be a little dangerous for her. If the vampires didn't play nice, at least. Domina's comment had her head tilting in curiosity, even as she grinned a little and tossed her hair back over one shoulder. Cautious or not, Kayla was still a teenager who loved being complimented. "What do you mean, they might like me a little too much?" she asked, still smiling. She couldn't be referring to Kayla's blood type, could she? She didn't see any big problem with letting people know - if it came up, of course; she wasn't going to go around spewing for no reason - but her father had decided that the family should try to keep that fact as quiet as could be. But then, he was a paranoid businessman. One little kidnapping attempt almost a decade ago and all of a sudden everyone's always out to get them. So lame.
At Kayla’s inquiry, Domina smirked impishly and hid a playful giggle behind her hand. “What made me?” she asked, before giving Kayla a conspiratory little grin. “Well, I don’t think I could say in polite company.” And yet she was pretty sure Kayla could figure it out. At least, she hoped she could. This girl wasn’t going to be anywhere near as fun to play with if she was dumb. The dumb ones were just too easy!
She was just gesturing that the two of them might take a seat at a leather couch as Kayla questioned her again. Hrm. She did not sound or appear very surprised. So, Domina was willing to wager she knew there was something different about her. She could just admit it, but there weren’t a lot of ways to describe someone smelling interesting without coming off as weird. Then again, she had been invited. “There isn’t really a way to say it without sounding like a creeper,” she admitted, with another wide grin as she sat down. “And I wouldn’t want to freak you out. I mean, you barely know me.”
Well, Kayla had heard the stories, and since her mind had already been leaning in that direction, Domina's smirking little smile pretty much clinched it. "Really," she said, the remark not quite a question and not quite a statement, but somewhere in between. "It's honestly that good? I mean, I figured people were just exaggerating. I mean, there's like a whole genre of romance novels about it but I thought that's where the stories came from." Not that she really read romance novels, preferring a nice technical manual or textbook to fluffy romance or purple smut, but when one researched the supernatural, a certain amount of exposure was rather inevitable.
She nodded to Domina's gesture, seating herself next to Domina with a laugh. "Oh, go ahead," she said, waving her hand. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you're not a creeper. And anyway, I asked." Her grin was mildly conspiratory, a little bit sheepish. "People have said I'm too curious for my own good, but now I have to know. So, shoot. I promise I won’t think you’re a closet creeper."
The more they talked, the more Domina began to feel she actually could work with this girl. She could still prove to be retarded, but it was a better start than the bitches she’d come here with. “Honey, it’s a milestone,” she answered, without a moment’s hesitation. “It might as well be considered a religious experience. You simply must try it before you die.” She recommended fucking a vampire the way most people recommended a gourmet dessert. Eh, that sounded about right. Vampire ala mode. Sign her up.
Domina still wasn’t wholy convinced that just admitting to the truth was a good idea -- after all, since when did Domina Moriarty resort to the truth? -- but hell, she’d try anything once. And it felt reasonably safe in this environment. “It’s your scent,” she answered, having the good sense to act embarrassed at the admission. “It’s very human, but unlike everything I’ve ever smelled before. It was even enough for me to know it was you before I saw you. Strongest sense tied to memory and all.”
Her frank recommendation had Kayla full-out laughing with the type of head-thrown-back abandon she was known for. Sure, Kayla could be restrained if the situation called for it, but in a loud nightclub where she was already a tiny bit tipsy? Fuck it, she was being balls-out herself. "Oh my god," she said once she was better under control, giggling a little and wiping at her eyes to make sure her eyeliner hadn't run. "Wow. I'll keep that in mind if I ever start dating a nice vampire boy." She was no virgin, but neither was she the type for one-night stands.
But thoughts of vampire trysts went to the wayside when Domina explained about her scent. "Wow, I had no idea," she said. "I mean, I read that your senses are like, way better than mine and all, but I didn't know they were that good." Especially since she'd never thought of birds having good senses of smell - wolves and dogs, sure, but she hadn't given much thought to were senses. "Well, I'm definitely human," she said. "It's probably my blood type, if that influences a person's scent at all." She wasn't typically a fan of strong perfumes or scents, preferring things that were light and clean - usually nothing more than her own soap. A worried look suddenly crossed her face. "It's not bad or anything, is it?" she asked, a little self-consciously. "I'd totally hate to be walking around like, grossing out anyone I pass who can smell it."
Oh yeah. Domina could work with this. She grinned widely at Kayla’s laughter, sipping her drink as she played her options over in her mind. If she took this bitch to Heme, would she end up drained in a dumpster out back? Well. Not if I keep an eye out on her. It will be tedious, sure, but... a learning experience. And I want to know what the fuck her deal is. And if I need to convert her to minion-status. She was loathe to lower herself to human companions, but Kayla could prove to be a worthy exception - as long as Domina got something out of it. “Maybe we’ll just have to find you a nice vampire boy at Heme!” Or a nice big roofie. Once you went dead, no more humans in your bed -- right?
Bloodtype? The scent was because of her fucking bloodtype? Really? Bullshit, Domina automatically thought, though her facial expression never changed. “I’ve never smelled a bloodtype like yours,” she had to admit. “No, it’s not bad. It’s very fascinating. It’s like... you get used to all the living smells, human AB- and whathaveyou, and then something comes around that’s completely original. Like when you’re a kid and they introduce a new Jolly Rancher flavor that everybody goes apeshit over.” Hey, she had to make sense in human terms, dammit. And she was not one to comfort anyone, but that was the truth. It was why Domina hadn’t written her off as a useless vanilla meatbag the first time she met Kayla.
"Next you're going to tell me unicorns also exist," Kayla joked. "I mean, maybe someone who's just been changed, but otherwise aren't most vampires past the 'boy' stage?" That was kind of wild to think about, how someone could be hundreds of years old but look super young. Forever. Awesome, but kind of a drag depending on how young was young.
It was a relief to hear that she didn't smell bad. "Yeah, I'd be surprised if you had," she said with a casual shrug. "There are like, maybe thirty thousand people with the same type on the planet, mostly in India and Asia. It's called Bombay? The technical explanation is complicated, but basically I'm not A, B, or O and it's a giant pain in the ass." She had a medical alert bracelet she was supposed to wear just in case anything happened, seeing as how she could easily be mistyped as O, but she frequently took it off when she went out clubbing. Sure, it was discreet, delicate and silver with the red cross sign on it and engraving about her blood type, but that didn't mean it went with everything. Hello, accessories were important. But she still kept it with her. Fishing it out of her purse, she handed it over. "See?" she said. "Named after where they discovered it, blah blah history no one cares about."
Domina shrugged the idea off. “You could say that,” she decided. “I like to consider it ‘greatly experienced’.” Who would have thought it, Domina Moriarty: Optimist. Yeah, right. “It’s not a bad thing at all, trust me.” Then again, Domina had this bad habit of going after older men anyway. ‘Boys’ had never appealed to her.
For a moment she still held on to her disbelief, but the more Kayla went on, the more Domina felt like some fat, pathetic cat lady who just hit it big on a TV gameshow. Holy shit, holy shit. Bitch is liquid gold. She leaned forward to examine the bracelet, face not betraying her mental cartwheels. And amazingly enough, dollar signs did not appear in her pupils. “That’s amazing,” she murmured, handing the bracelet back and sitting up straight. “And I’d definitely say that qualifies as vampire bait. Something tells me you’d have your pick.” Fuck that, they would line up. They would book the bitch years in advance.
"I don't doubt you," Kayla said, "but it's kind of a mental thing, reconciling outward appearances with reality. Though I guess you probably never had that issue, did you?" she mused, mostly rhetorically. "Growing up in the know, so to speak. I'm still adjusting, I think." Two months was really not that long a time for all the information that had suddenly come to the forefront, though Kayla thought society as a whole could have done a lot worse in the transition.
"I don't know if I like the sound of bait," Kayla said with a laugh and a grimace of playful trepidation. "I mean, taking my pick, well, what girl doesn't like that? But bait... not so much. But you see why my parents flip their shit when stuff gets stirred up. I know vampires have all the legal sources for blood and all, but they figure there are always statistical outliers, you know?" For her part, Kayla was cautious when out alone at night - which wasn't very often - but mostly in the way one was cautious when it came to the idea of getting mugged or breaking down on a deserted road at midnight. Sure, it could happen... but what were the odds that it would?
If Domina played this right... oh, it was just too easy. On one hand, she almost didn’t want to get her hopes up. On the other... when on earth was there ever a time that Domina Moriarty didn’t get what she wanted? Fuck that noise! “That makes sense,” Domina said, sympathetic as could be. “It’s a big leap. It’s still a lot for me to know I don’t have to hide anymore.” The fuck it was. She’d gone out celebrating on May 1st. I CAN TURN INTO A BIRD, WHO WANTS TO BUY THIS FIERCE BITCH A DRINK? Yeah, her father had to pay a few people to keep the events of that night out of the papers. “Most of them are normal people. You wouldn’t know they’re a vampire unless they want you to. And there are the recently turned.” Which were nowhere near as fun, but Domina was willing to accept that she was going to have to break Kayla in slowly. And she was going to break the bitch in - one way or another. She’d try willingly first. Why not? She needed a new project.
“Oh, I can only imagine,” Domina replied. “Even mine are extremely protective.” In the sense that her dad regularly had her foes ‘taken care of’. Hey, that was love. Her mom... well, her mom could eat a dick. Actually, she’d probably enjoy that.
"That must have been tough," Kayla sympathized. She thought she could understand a little - she'd kept her blood a secret when she was little, oddly ashamed of not being 'normal'... and then she grew out of that right quick. But it was still a secret, though nowhere near as drastic as being a totally separate species. So she couldn't really say she knew how Domina felt. How arrogant would that be? "I'm really hoping things start to settle down soon," she said. "I mean, it's not like all this stuff is new... just new to the rest of us. Obviously there's a lot to sort out, but it sucks that a few rampaging crazies are ruining it for everyone else." She wasn't a big fan of forcing registration for supernatural beings; legislation to police all species equally, sure, but registration just seemed a little... dehumanizing. Or whatever the term would be for non-humans.
"Oh, I believe you," she said, pulling out her phone as it buzzed in her purse. Answering a quick text to let a latecoming friend know where they were, she dropped the device back in her bag. "I don't think I've met a vampire, but who knows?"
You haven’t, Domina thought. If you had, you would have been bitten. End of story. Fuck, she didn’t even crave human blood - let alone need it to survive - and she knew how valuable that shit flowing in her veins was. “I think they will,” she said. “Settle down, that is. Daddy’s doing his part, and for the most part, the vampires in this area are very... civilized. I believe the bad apples will be weeded out, one way or another. In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to make nice with a few supernaturals,” she grinned. “Nothing to protect you from the big bad unknown like one of the same.”
"I think it will, too," Kayla agreed, "but for everyone's sake, I hope it's sooner rather than later. I mean, all of this coming out back in May could've been way worse - could still be way worse - but I'm really glad it hasn't been. I just hope that's a trend we can keep up." Some days it was easier to be optimistic than others, considering how many states still discriminated against race or creed or sexuality or any number of entirely moronic reasons - supernaturals were quite literally different species. Discriminating against them would come way easy to certain groups. She answered Domina's grin with one of her own. "Well, you'll just have to introduce me to a few good apples, then," she joked. "Is there an application for protection or do I qualify just by being my normal charming self?"
“I think you’ll qualify,” Domina grinned. “Stick with me. Nobody’s going to fuck with a Moriarty.” Nobody with a single IQ point, that was. There were easily people in this town that didn’t fit that criteria, but she could handle the stupids. “So how about it?” she asked. “You want to go check out Heme together some night? I promise you’ll return in one piece.” That time, anyway. No promises for the future.
It didn't take Kayla long to make up her mind. Domina was offering her the exact thing she'd wanted for so long - a chance to hang with supernaturals up close and personal. With a reasonable guarantee that she wasn't going to end up dead at the end of the night. Her grin showcased her eagerness and excitement. "You're on," she agreed instantly. "Just let me know when and I'm there." Sure, she'd have to either sneak out or lie about where she was going - or probably both - but it wasn't like it was the first time she'd done it. Hell, it wasn't even the fiftieth time. To say Kayla had no problem deceiving her parents was a vast understatement.
“How about this weekend?” Domina asked. It would give her enough time to plan her strategy for the evening - and decide whether or not she’d pay some pretty vamp-boy to play charming and normal on her ass. Huh, she wondered if Lex could pretend he wasn’t an asshole for one night. That may be worth looking into - he was certainly hot enough. She could write it off as a new hunting method. Good times.
"Sounds good," Kayla said, making a note to clear whatever she might have had going on for the weekend. Likely it was nothing, as she tended to make rather last minute plans, but just in case. She'd rather have nothing to do than be double-booked. "Just give me a call later, then, and we'll work out a time and whatever." She briefly thought about inviting one or two of her other friends, but somehow couldn't see any of them agreeing to accompany her to the vampire bar. She loved her friends, but courage wasn't exactly their collective strong suit.
“I’ll do that,” Domina confirmed, deciding she was glad she’d come out tonight after all. Screw the uppity bitches she’d come here with, they were worthless. Her mind may have come back to work, but that wasn’t such a bad thing. It was kind of nice, actually - finding something you were truly passionate about. Even if her passions were a little skewed by most peoples standards - it absolutely never got boring.