[A.T.L.A.S] (maketheplay) wrote in worldsapart_ic, @ 2019-05-16 19:44:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | daniel penbrook, james byrne |
Who: Daniel Penbrook & James Byrne
What: James has a client who just so happens to have pissed off the wrong people
When: 10th May
Where: Random places are random
Rating: PG
Warnings: Smattering of violence and uh, death
Los Angeles was actually the perfect city to enjoy the beloved dive bar scene. There were many watering holes in pretty much every neighbourhood, good ones to boot, and despite the real estate prices that were sky-high and that densely populated urbanite feel, James knew of some fantastic places for a round of escapism. Or to conduct a shady deal, which is what this was.
Twinkling Christmas lights that were up year-round, and cash only - this particular place had been doing its thing since the fabled Route 66 days. The bar was dimly lit and lined with kitschy memorabilia with just the perfect amount of neon. Plus, cheap strong drinks or downing pint after pint without breaking the bank didn’t hurt matters either.
It was this place James had picked to meet up with a client who wanted a spelled charm - that spell, the one that guaranteed a vampire wouldn’t literally crisp in the sun after too much exposure. From what he understood, the sire gave their newborn progeny one of these charms as kind of a ‘welcome to eternity and bloodlust’ type of gift, which meant that the vampire in question, who paid to have the charm made, had recently created a childe.
He also was wanted by Vampire Gestapo, apparently, or at least that’s what James had learned when he mentioned the whole thing to Daniel. So here they were - together. With James essentially luring his client into a trap.
“I can at least get paid first, before you drag him into the back room, aye?” he made sure to ask, lighting a cigarette - that was the thing about the ‘after work’ crowd. They didn’t give a shit about smoke, bless ‘em.
Vampires much like humans were a varied bunch. Some good, some not so good, some just plain bad and then there were a few sprinkled in with a touch of indifference. And then there was just the dumb ones, the ones who made the mistake of getting on the wrong side of the Magisterium and were if left unattended dangerous and unpredictable. This vampire fell into the latter part of that and Daniel was here to make sure he got taken care of.
“Of course,” he returned smoothly. “I should stay out of sight, one look at me and he’ll run.”
Any vampire worth their salt knew who Daniel was and what it meant for Daniel to turn up unexpectedly and this vampire he suspected might not be as dumb as they all thought, never underestimate anyone and you would never get caught with your trousers down.
“I have no desire to play chase this evening.”
“Fair enough,” James nodded, and he’d actually been thinking the same thing - clearly someone like Daniel was not your usual ‘type’ who frequented this bar. Plus, he was well known in the Vampire Gestapo - part of the Vampire Gestapo? How titillating.
Right, so seeing him would clearly set off a few alarm bells. The cigarette James had sucked back, nicotine seeping into his cells, was now stubbed out - ash sprinkled in the tray. He ordered a bourbon, neat, and checked the time - misbehaving vampire would be here quite soon. “Why don’t you meet me back there, then?” he suggested. “Ten minutes.”
And then Daniel was shooed off. But not before James grabbed him by the silk tie and planted a smoky kiss on him.
Daniel returned the kiss even going so far as to take a handful of James’ dark hair before he was withdrawing and vanishing into the crowd to the point where he completely disappeared which was a handy skill to have especially if you were in the business of making problems vanish.
And now it was a waiting game.
Thankfully Daniel was a patient man, for the most part.
He needn’t wait long - James wasn’t about to deny Daniel his fun, not for a torturous amount of time. While he sat at the bar counting down the minutes, tick-tock, he sipped his drink and was the picture of cool confidence and ‘don’t give a fuck,’ which was an ideal vibe for a laid-back watering hole such as this.
But then, aha, he spotted the prey du jour. A twitchy sort of creature of the night, greasy hair pulled back into a ponytail with a thin, gaunt face - his cheekbones protruded, but not in a modelesque sort of way. More like a ‘perpetually underweight’ sort of way. James waved him over, wearing a Crest white strips sort of smile.
“I’ve got your ring right here, mate,” he patted his pocket. “It’s bloody loud out here though, and the lighting is shit. I want to make sure everything’s satisfactory someplace quieter.”
“Sure,” agreed the sitting duck, and passed over the roll of Benjamin’s because the look on James’ face said that he wouldn’t move a muscle until he got paid. But then he did, so all was well. To the back room they went.
Daniel waited just a beat before he shifted and moved after them in a movement awfully reminiscent of how a great white would move in the wide ocean and it was truly remarkable how quickly he could move when he had his mind set to something. He passed through the crowd with relative ease and rounded on the back room where he pushed open the door, head tipping to regard the other vampire.
“Fancy running into you here, Abel,” he said with a pointed sharp smile.
The vampire, Abel, turned his head and his eyes widened in horror as his gaze came to fall on Daniel fucking Penbrook of all people. Literally the last vampire he ever wanted to see and he was basically trapped as Daniel was right in the way of his door and there was no way out. “Did you-” he turned to look at James. “You set me up!”
“I’ve done worse,” James replied with a shrug. At the moment though, he’d actually pilfered the whole bottle of bourbon and casually unscrewed the top, taking a swig - toffee, burnt caramel undertones. A perfect drink for a killing evening (or whatever Daniel intended to do in here - it was up to him).
The back room was simply a storage room, and a dirty one at that - boxes and stains and rat turds aplenty; this was why he wouldn’t recommend ordering any food from the bar, but anyway. “Though I hear you’ve been bad, Abel.”
Tsk, how terrible. Another sip from the bottle, and ice-blue eyes squinted in speculation. “Did you kick someone’s puppy?” Do tell!
“You know how the Magisterium feels about vampires attacking humans,” Daniel remarked as he shrugged out of his jacket and placed it down on a nearby box, fingers slipping round to unclasp the cufflinks before doing the same with the buttons that held that very neatly pressed shirt sleeve to the full length and width of his arm. “Especially if it results in death and turning.”
Abel snorted quietly. “The Magisterium needs to wake up and smell the fact we’re at the top of the food chain, Daniel.”
A cursory and unamused look was aimed in Abel’s direction. “And that my dear vampire is an awfully out of date and antiquated way of looking at the world.” The cufflinks were for the moment passed over to James before the sleeves began to be rolled up towards his elbows.
James smirked; he assumed the handing over the cufflinks was the Daniel equivalent to ‘hold my earrings’ so he was happy to oblige - besides, these cufflinks probably cost more than this entire building did. Which was why he pocketed them for safekeeping, then gladly took another swig of bourbon as he observed the proceedings.
Which were bound to be interesting.
Abel, though. What a fucking cunt. “Top of the food chain,” he repeated with an amused snort of a laugh. “Is he serious? If you lot are at the top of the food chain, you wouldn’t need witches to spell your anti-sunburn baubles.”
Yes, that ‘burns to a literal crisp’ problem vampires had? They hadn’t figured out a way to evolve past that yet.
“And if witch-”
Though Abel didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence because in rather quick and agile movement Daniel had his hand latched around the other vampire’s neck and had him pinned against the nearby wall, a cold hard stare regarding Abel with apparent indifference. “Now, Abel, you have a choice. You either tell me where the children are and I promise that your death will be swift and they might be given a chance to prove themselves but if you don’t?” Daniel leaned in and let his voice drop. “Then your death will be slow and torturous and your children will know what it is to burn alive.”
He flexed his fingers and as he did Abel struggled against Daniel’s vice-like grip, feet kicking uselessly at the space of air between them and the ground.
“Your choice.”
Now, James of course had a weapon on him - a wooden stake, tucked away in his jacket for a rainy day. A day like now, in fact - he had indeed set Abel up, and knew Daniel would be here too, but he wasn’t about to meet a vampire without bringing some sort of protection. His fingers twitched, eager to reach in and grab what he wanted - instant paralysis would really do Abel some good. He was talking too much and yet saying too little, it was irritating.
But no. This was Daniel’s show, and besides, it was far too entertaining to break up.
He did go to the door to swiftly lock it, however - that way they wouldn’t risk some hapless person accidentally interrupting. “Since you went to all the trouble of getting the newest wee babe a bauble, perhaps you might wish to give them a decent chance?” he reasoned. Tick-tock, Abel. Let’s go.
It made sense, to have protection and to come prepared, and wooden stakes were good for that. Abel’s eyes darted from Daniel to James and back again, pupils widening and narrowing in short succession depending on where his fear levels were and how tight Daniel’s grip was.
“I am rapidly losing patience with you,” Daniel assured Abel with a predatory purr.
Abel squeaked, literally squeaked, before he just gestured towards his throat as it was hard to speak when he was being held up by it. Daniel exhaled a breath and released the grip unceremoniously before he folded his arms across his chest.
Abel rubbed at his throat. “There’s six of them,” his tongue flicked out over his lower lip as his gaze once again flicked between Daniel and James again. “I set them up in the warehouse district.”
“The section of the city that is always literally on fire? Good choice, mate,” James drawled. It was true - prostitution rings were rampant in that section, always had been, not to mention the various explosions and the like. He supposed it didn’t matter much - the comfort of Abel’s sired children were not really his concern.
Granted, an actual dumpster fire for a setup would not have been his first choice, but anyway. “Won’t be too hard to find them. I can even speed up the process,” he assured Daniel. “Thanks to - “
Swooping forward, he yanked a few hairs from Abel’s greasy head - you could probably fry an egg in that mess, oye. “This.” The progenies were connected to the sire, and with a bit of the sire used in a tracking spell? No, not difficult at all.
Continue, Daniel.
It wasn’t an exact location but it would do. Daniel had worked with less although it would seem James had a trick up his witchy sleeve so this night might end earlier than expected.
Still, he was a vampire of his word.
Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out what seemed to be slim metallic object that when flicked open with a twist of his wrist extended into a fairly impressive definitely sharp blade. It was truly remarkable what Daniel’s weaponsmaster was capable of creating, it was why Daniel paid them so much.
Barely a blink passed over Daniel’s face as he wielded the blade efficiently as he took Abel’s head from his shoulders and unlike vampires in movies his body didn’t immediately disintegrate but rather lay there prone. Eventually his age would catch up with him but Daniel wasn’t willing to take that chance so a call was put into the clean up service, giving a location and description of the body. They’d take care of it.
Daniel inhaled slow and ran a handkerchief over the edge of his blade and then tossed the now bloodstained material onto the body for clean up before his attention turned to James.
Rather than be repulsed or horrified, James was actually intrigued. “Did you just decapitate him with a penknife?” he asked, more amused than anything else. Because honestly, that blade looked like something you could get at a 7-11; obviously, it was anything but. Clearly it was crafted to look innocuous but be incredibly dangerous - he was impressed.
And so impressed was he, he stepped closer and planted another kiss on Daniel - hard, passionate, open. Sure, he’d literally just killed someone and there was a headless body on the floor beside them but James didn’t care. He was well aware he had strange tastes.
“Shall we?” They could go somewhere else - anywhere else. It was all fine by him.
Daniel looped his arm around James’ waist as the witch kissed him and he returned the kiss, a slight scrape of fangs could be felt against the other man’s lower lip before their mouths parted.
“Still got a handful of children to find after all.” The knife was slipped back into his pocket though sleeves were left where they were and his jacket was collected by long fingers.
It was going to be a long night although hopefully he could hand them over into another’s care and go on his merry way.
He wasn’t their Sire after all, just the vampire sent in to clean up the mess.