Cappie walked into the bar. That sounded like the start of an amazing joke. Cappie wished he knew how it ended. Somehow, he never seemed to remember walking out of the bar...
The Lightning Brew Pub looked nice: nowhere near dirty or seedy enough to spawn the most legendary of nights out, but not too shabby at all. He thought he could work with it. It was rusting and certainly displayed a very comprehensive and imaginative use of wood.
It wasn’t busy in the pub. There were a few people sitting at tables, all looking worryingly sober, but it was still early. There was still plenty of time. Cappie slid onto a stool at the bar and crossed his arms across the bar top. Ah, sticky; just the way he liked it. Leaning forward, he scanned the area behind the bar and caught sight of the back of someone with long, blonde hair and a foxy ass.
“Hey, ancient lady!”
She was hardly ancient. Rebekah Mikaelson was ancient. She simply looked good for her age, she thought with a grin as the kid sat down at the bar.
“That is a terrible chat up line.” she said passing a beer across the bar. “I’ll start a tab. But okay, lesson one. You don’t get drunk. And if you drink it you pay for it. Abe’s a good boss by all accounts but if you drink his profits...well...I would NOT like to be on the other side of that glare and I’m literally three centuries old.” she said. It was amusing how easy she could be with her vampirism here. Though letting the kid work it out for himself might help him settle into the weird that was Atlantis.
She served someone else further down the bar for a minute or so before returning to Cappie and leaning slightly forward.
“So have you any experience with bar work? At all?”
“I'm saving the good ones until later,” Cappie laughed, taking the beer he was passed with a grateful nod of the head before taking a long drink as his tutor started on the rules. Rule one of working behind a bar might be not to get drunk but, luckily, he wasn't at work tonight and, after the day he'd had, he thought that getting drunk was probably a good course of action. He hoped Lexi got through all of her serious bartending rules early on, while he was still sober enough to stand a chance at remembering them. He figured he had about 5 beers to go before things got too hazy to hold onto.
“I have lots of experience with bar workers,” he replied, once Lexi had returned to him. “But bar work,” he carried on. “Not so much.” He scanned the racks of bottles and taps, sizing up his opposition. How hard could it really be? “I know my alcohol, at least,” he added, proudly, lifting his beer bottle in a little salute.
While she had been serving the other patron, Cappie had taken the chance to study Lexi. She didn't look much older than he was, if at all. He couldn't work out what game she was playing, claiming to be three centuries old. Was it a ploy to try to put off guys? Because, if it was, it didn't work. At all. She was hot!
“So, are you going to share your secret of eternal youth?” he asked, tilting his head to one side. “Or do I only get to learn that once I'm inducted into the bartenders’ Hall of Fame?”
She didn't think he was kidding. College kid. Frat boy to boot. Mazur would looove this. “Do you really. Hot bartenders? And how much alcohol?”
She pointed to a bottle of Kahlua, one of Gin, One of Bourbon and last a pretty pricy South African wine, Name the drinks and tell me where you think the wine is from. Go” she told him, watching his reactions. He didn’t entirely need to know every one but he was pretty cocky. And she liked taking people like that to task. If he got them all she’d actually be impressed.
And as for my secret to eternal youth?” she added as he mused over the drinks, waiting until he was in the middle of the deliberations. Vampire”
“The answer to your first question entirely depends on the answer to the second,” Cappie laughed, sipping his beer. “I find my perception changes at around about the sixth beverage.”
Oo, good, a test. Cappie liked this kind of test. He wished his GPA could be based on tests like this.
“Okay,” he said, narrowing his eyes as he peered at the bottles Lexi had indicated. “Kahlua,” he began, stating, “White Russian, of course,” as his justification for the knowledge. “Gin - classy,” he carried on. “And Bourbon, obviously.”
He turned his attention to the wine. Wine was not his strong suit, at all. He’d drink it, of course, but only when there was no viable alternative, or when a girl made him.
“I think,” he started, slowly. “That the wine is from… grapes.” He grinned, looking pleased with himself. He shrugged. “Anyway, that’s what the label’s for, right?”
Cappie laughed when Lexi said she was a vampire. “Nice,” he said, nodding, amused, and playing along. “If you’re Edward, does that make me Bella?”
She’d give him this. He knew his stuff. Suppose frat boys had hidden boozy depths. She was impressed he remembered. And the crack about Grapes, she couldn’t help but laugh. He was just ridiculous enough that he might be okay at this.
Until he Twilighted her, obviously.
“Oh no no no. There is no Twilight franchise in my life. Nope. We’re not them. And I only sparkle if I go all out enough to buy glitter and hit the town.” she joked. “But yes, vampire, and not the weirdest thing here. By a friggin mile. But we’re getting off track. How do you make Mojito? Annd OJ and Tequila. What third thing makes a Tequila Sunrise?”
Cappie thought she was probably taking this vampire joke a little bit too far, although he appreciated her deadpan delivery. Still, he couldn’t work out what she was getting out of it. She was young and hot and clearly very good at her job. Why did she have to pretend to be some ancient, creepy bloodsucker?
“Are you going to suck my… blood?” Cappie asked, giving her a cheeky grin, still playing along for the time being. Far be it from him to deprive someone else of their fun.
“Rum, sugar, lime, soda and mint,” Cappie listed obediently. “And the missing ingredient is… ding, ding ding! Grenadine. Although, personally,” he added. “I prefer Sex on the Beach. Don’t you?”
He got it. All of it. Even if he didn’t believe the vampire thing. She could show him but...he’d probably run screaming and that was bad for business and all.
“Nah, I mean unless you’re into that” she teased as he listed off the ingredients. She was proud of the kid, he’d go far. “Good. You’re qualified. Mazur might just be happy with you.” she added. Abe was actually a good guy from what she could see.
“And god no, Sex on the Beach? Sand gets places, it’s kinda gross, I once had sex in the snow but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone human.”
Cappie laughed, tipping his head back. “You clearly haven’t been having good enough sex, if you’re worried about minor things like that,” he commented, pointing at her with the neck of his beer bottle.
“You’re really into this whole vampire thing, aren’t you?” he asked, finishing off his drink and placing the empty bottle down on the bar. He wished he knew what about it made her tick. Not that it wasn’t kinda hot, in a kinky way. Cappie was as into the Anne Rice vibe as the next guy.
He wasn’t gonna believe her. “Okay look I can show you but don’t run or scream, okay” she said, eyes fixing on him. “Twirl your bottle on the bar.” she compelled before stepping back slightly and letting her vampiric nature so.
“Figured it best you figure this out from someone who won’t mess with you. This is compulsion. And I will show you how to prevent it. So if anyone tries it at Dive you can slap them upside the head. This world has everything, which is amazing, but also scary as all hell. Better to go in eyes open.”
Cappie frowned, about to make some sarcastic comeback, but found himself, instead, obediently twirling his empty beer bottle on the bar top. When Lexi stepped away, Cappie felt something release inside him, his fingers coming to a halt and the beer bottle skittering away across the bar where it rolled to a stop against a stack of napkins. “Why did I just do that?” Cappie asked, his eyes widening in disbelief. He was used to hot girls entrancing him, but not quite so absolutely so that he lost complete control of free will.
“You’re not seriously trying to tell me you’re a vampire?” Cappie asked, snorting, although his incredulity was tentative. He couldn’t deny what he’d just seen but… vampires? That couldn’t actually be true, could it?
She had to show him. Especially working in a bar. Most vampires would never abuse compulsion for more than a few drinks or an ID check but...there were others who would do worse. “Yes. I’m a vampire” she said showing him her vampiric face just for a couple of seconds. “I compelled you. Made you do what I wanted. Now there is a way to stop that, a plant called Vervain. You can get teas of it, or ..probably smoke it but that’d be weird. Either way, it’ll keep you safe. I don’t keep it at the bar because...yeah, reasons. But I can point you at people who can get you some.”
She didn’t want to drag the guy down so passed him another drink. “That out of the way, tell me why you decided to stay here?”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Cappie yelled, jumping about a foot off his seat and tumbling backwards away from the bar, as his wide, disconcerted eyes searched Lexi’s face for any trace of the monster that had been there just a moment before. He landed, awkwardly, on the rather sticky floor of the bar and scrambled to his feet, trying to gather some form of composure, running a hand through his tousled hair.
“Let me get this straight,” he said, sounding more shaken than he would have liked. “You’re a vampire?” The question sounded stupid, considering that she’d been telling him the answer all along. He shook his head, dismissing his own words. “No, okay, you’re a vampire and you want me to get high on some plant because you, the vampire, say it will keep me safe from vampires?” he rephrased, incredulously.
He took a deep breath, the air whistling slightly as it passed between his teeth, before sliding back onto the bar stool he’d just recently, inadvertently vacated and taking the drink Lexi had passed him. He wasn’t completely sure why he wasn’t running for the hills right now but he couldn’t help but notice that, vampire or not, Lexi wasn’t acting like she wanted to hurt him. You didn’t give good beer to people you were planning to eat, right?
“I figured a change is as good as a vacation,” he explained, shrugging his shoulders a couple of times in an attempt to loosen up the residual tension in them. “Although I’m starting to wonder what the hell I’ve gotten myself into,” he muttered in an undertone, taking a big gulp of his beer. “You?” he asked. “What attraction does this place hold for a member of the undead, the Nosferatu?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean you to freak so much but then, yeah why wouldn’t you. Yes, me the vampire is asking you to trust that other vampires can be and often are, dicks. That herb, it’ll keep you safe. Sadly it doesn’t get people high. But there are so many other herbs that do.”
Asking what she liked about being here, she sighed, pouring herself a drink too. “I’m dead back home. Not just vampire dead, dead dead. I get staked and wind up a vampy ghost, I go somewhere good. The good place you go after you die but I miss life. I miss things like this. And here I am.” she told him. But the kid was ready for what lay ahead.
“So, you good? With this and with the bar work? What’d I tell you was lesson one?”
Cappie didn’t need convincing that vampires could be dicks. If humans could be dicks as thoroughly as he knew he could be, he was sure vampires could be just as dick-y. Dicks with fangs. His imagination started conjuring up images of Evan Chambers and his Omega Chi brothers in Dracula capes with fangs and blood dripping down their chins. Apart from the obviously cliche imagery, the view of the Omega Chis as ruthless bloodsuckers didn’t seem so out of character. Still, he had a feeling that was being far too harsh on Lexi and her people.
“Okay, so… vervain, was it? I’ll try and get hold of some,” he assured her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, when she told him about what happened to her in her own world. “That sucks.” It took him a moment to process the fact that she was telling him she’d actually been dead but she hadn’t been lying before about being a vampire so he couldn’t see any reason for her to start now. He sighed deeply, tipping his bottle to Lexi before taking a long drink of his beer. You couldn’t say fairer than her reasons for staying.
“I’m good,” he said after a moment, nodding. “With both.” He didn’t know how good he’d be at bartending or whether he’d be able to sleep at night, knowing that this place was home to the cast of all the creepiest horror movies he’d seen, but he’d find a way to cope with both.
Lesson one. What had she said? “If I drink it, I pay for it,” he replied, screwing up his face as he tried to remember and repeat what she’d told him. “And don’t get drunk,” he added, as the second, less palatable part of the lesson. “Although, I’m not working right now, so I’m gonna need you to keep those beers coming.”
“You are” she responded. “You’ll do okay bartending, hell, you might even find yourself enjoying it.” she told him. She felt for the kid, he had a long road ahead of him, but he hadn’t just immediately gone home after being told what was happening and he’d actually come to learn how to do his job so there was that. Not to mention he was more than happy, it seemed, to listen to her about vervain.
He was a good kid. For a ridiculously horny teenager.
“Good. Lesson passed. But you’re right, you’re not working right now, so..”
She uncapped another beer sliding it down the bar to him. “Call it a freebie.”