\ Author:Shaun http://drupal.wildandbad.com/taxonomy/term/183/all en 2021-05-26 20:00 - Wednesday - Awakenings http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3515 <p><p> Cadee exhaled deeply, before taking a look around her apartment for the thousandth time . Everything was perfect, the table was already set &ndash;candles included &ndash; and dinner was in the oven. When Logan had suggested another date, this time for dinner, she had proposed home cooking at her apartment; she had wanted to cook for him, open up&nbsp; yet another aspect of her life.&nbsp; She had selected the menu with care, as usual, and decided for simple American food, to be on the safe side: roast spring lamb with steamed vegetables with onion gravy.&nbsp; The smell of the roasting meat filled the apartment, and Cadee smiled. &nbsp;</p> <p> However, now she was anxious and a little nervous; not because of the cooking, she was confident that would be great, but because everything else.&nbsp; Anne&rsquo;s continuous innuendos and winks before leaving for her brother&rsquo;s apartment hadn&rsquo;t helped much either.&nbsp; *<span style="font-style:italic">I guess Anne&rsquo;s right and I&rsquo;m just rusty.*</span> She thought, *<span style="font-style:italic">if I got laid more often, I wouldn&rsquo;t be this anxious, would I ?*</span></p> <p> &ldquo;Of course she&rsquo;s right,&rdquo; she said to no one, as she walked to the bathroom to have a shower and get ready for her guest.</p> <p> Cadee barely had time to pull on her top when the doorbell rang.</p> <p> &ldquo;A man on time, I&rsquo;m shocked,&rdquo; Cadee laughed as Logan greeted her on the other side of the door with a huge smile.</p> <p> &ldquo;I guess I couldn&rsquo;t stay away,&rdquo; he laughed, planting a playful kiss on her cheek. He welcomed the opportunity to spend an evening with Cadee. Things at Balthazar&rsquo;s had been crazy since that night at Jasmin&rsquo;s. Romano was like a man possessed; obsessed with whatever it was they took from the vampire. He wouldn&rsquo;t let anyone disturb him, yet at the same time, he almost freaked out when Logan requested the night off. Balthazar had finally conceded, but had made Logan promise that he&rsquo;d be back by latest 8:00 the next morning.<span style="font-style:italic"> *I guess he has something important tomorrow he needs me for.*</span></p> <p> As he walked into the beautifully traditional New York style apartment, got a big whiff of her cooking. &ldquo;Man, smells fantastic&rdquo;.</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;I hope it tastes as good,&rdquo; she said, closing the door behind him.</p> <p> Cadee smiled happily.&nbsp; After the events of the night before, she longed for some &lsquo;normality&rsquo;, and what was more normal than a date with a gorgeous guy? Oh, yes. It was good to be just a girl in a date. She was determined to have a nice time. No falling vampires, werewolf wannabes or not-dying freaks; just the two of them.</p> <p> &ldquo;Please, sit down. Would you want a drink before dinner? It won&rsquo;t be ready for a while yet.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Sounds good.&rdquo;</p> <p> Cadee poured two glasses of pinot noir, as Logan took a seat at the table. &ldquo;So what do we toast to?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;How about to&hellip;&rdquo; he paused for a moment, contemplating as he lifted the glass. Logan&lsquo;s smile widened &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got nothing&rdquo;.</p> <p> The two laughed, and &lsquo;clinked&rsquo; their glasses.</p> <p> &ldquo;How about to new beginnings,&rdquo; Cadee chuckled before taking a sip. She thought it was fitting; little did she know how appropriate it was for the man as well.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve just got to check on the food, if you&rsquo;ll give me a second.&rdquo;</p> <p> As she disappeared into the kitchen, Logan followed quietly behind. She really is beautiful.&nbsp; He took a moment to admire the blonde as she toiled expertly over the stove. He snuck forwards, and placed his arms on either side of Cadee, trapping her against the large stainless steel appliance. &ldquo;Need some help?&rdquo; he whispered mischievously in her ear, hoping to catch her off guard.</p> <p> Cadee didn&rsquo;t so much as turn around. &ldquo;I heard you come in.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Aw, there goes my aspiration to become a ninja.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t quit your day job if I were you,&rdquo; she laughed, though her mind wandered to someplace dark. She didn&rsquo;t want to dwell on the fact that he worked for Balthazar, but no matter how much she tried to suppress it, it was always at the back of her mind.</p> <p> &ldquo;Ugg, no talk about work,&rdquo; Logan sighed, brushing Cadee&rsquo;s hair to one side. He moved his body closer, gently kissing the nape of her neck.</p> <p> &ldquo;Rough night? Cadee purred, dropping her stirring spoon and finally turning around. <span style="font-style:italic"> God he was sexy.</span> He had never been so forward, but it wasn&rsquo;t like Cadee minded.</p> <p> &ldquo;You could say that,&rdquo; he mumbled, now kissing Cadee passionately against the stove. &ldquo;Way too late meeting with the owner of that Club we were at last week. But like I said,&rdquo; he growled, lifting the girl up and spinning her so she wouldn&rsquo;t hurt herself on the burners, &ldquo;no talk about work&rdquo;.</p> <p> <span style="font-style:italic">Oh yes</span>, Cadee let herself be engulfed by him as his touch made her skin come alive; her arms moved to his nape and her legs wrapped around his waist, enjoying the ride to the kitchen countertop where he sat her,&nbsp; before he moved forward, his tongue slipping inside her mouth, coaxing hers to play.</p> <p> Cadee kissed him back fully, too lost in the moment to even think about his words, and then it hit her.&nbsp; <span style="font-style:italic">*The Club we were last week? The Graveyard?*</span> She knew it was Romano and his men who had attempted to kill Jasmin, but she had refused to believe Logan was in their numbers, how na&iuml;ve of her&hellip;</p> <p> &ldquo;Wait, wait,&rdquo; she pulled him apart, out of breath, his kiss still lingering in her lips. &ldquo;Were you in Jasmin&rsquo;s building last night?&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;What? Oh yeah, my boss had a late meeting with her,&rdquo; he practically panted, caught off guard by Cadee&rsquo;s hesitation. &ldquo;But don&rsquo;t worry, I&rsquo;ve still got plenty of energy for tonight.&rdquo; His hand began to move up her thigh, but she quickly grasped his wrist. &ldquo;Whoah, you&rsquo;re stronger than you look,&rdquo; he said, realizing that she was no longer in the moment. &ldquo;Did I do something?&rdquo;</p> <p> Cadee closed her eyes, gritting. Could she be more witless? It seemed everything she did lately was tinted with stupidity. Like believing that Logan could work with Romano and not be touched by his corruption and ugliness. &ldquo;A late meeting?&rdquo; she said at last, <span style="font-style:italic">unbelievable</span>. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how you call it?&rdquo;</p> <p> Taking a step back, Logan and Cadee locked eyes. A second ago, they were glowing with passion and now they just burned with anger. &ldquo;What are you talking about?&rdquo; he asked innocently. Flashes of the fight with Jasmin flooded back into his mind. <span style="font-style:italic">But she couldn&rsquo;t know about that&hellip; </span>&ldquo;Cadee, seriously what&rsquo;s going on?&rdquo; Gently, he reached out again to touch her arm soothingly.<br /> &nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said recoiling.</p> <p> &ldquo;You&rsquo;re scaring me Cadee, what is this about?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;You. It&rsquo;s about you. And your boss. And locking Jasmin out to wait for sunrise, that is this about.&rdquo; Cadee trembled with anger; she knew she was overreacting but she didn&rsquo;t mind. It was too much; she&rsquo;d passed through too much these past few days: with Meredith, and with those damn zombies, and Jasmin&rsquo;s broken body last night. All that and justifying her feelings for Logan despite his boss. Unrealistically, she had held to the hope that he was different, that the man she had recognized in his eyes was the real one, and not the dodgy, lying son of a bitch a Romano bodyguard <span style="font-style:italic">must</span> be. &ldquo;How <span style="font-style:italic">could </span>you?&rdquo;</p> <p> Logan felt like he had been hit by a train. How did a sweet, normal girl like Cadee know about what had happened the previous night? None of this made sense. A chill crept over his body. Now it was his turn to take a step back. &ldquo;You need to calm down Cadee. Things with my job are complicated, things with Jasmin are complicated,&rdquo; he began, only to be cut off.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> &ldquo;I know she&rsquo;s a vampire, and I know what you did!&rdquo;</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;I&hellip;but&hellip;.&rdquo; he stammered, his mind racing. She knew about the supernatural, she knew about Balthazar, she knew what he had done. &ldquo;Just who are you?&rdquo; Logan suddenly asked coldly. Sure, he was guilty of keeping secrets from her, but obviously the girl had her own skeletons.</p> <p> Cadee inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself; she was already regretting her outburst, but she was very, very angry. Her eyes flashed when she looked at Logan again.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a freak, just like Jasmin. I&rsquo;m a vampire, a werewolf and a hundred different demons, and just in the bottom, deep down, I&rsquo;m human. Are you going to kill me too?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Of course not!&rdquo; his voice softened slightly. &ldquo;Look, I said things are complicated&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Well I&rsquo;m going to give you about one minute to uncomplicated things. Who are you really?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Cadee, come on,&rdquo; Logan said, trying to wrap his mind around what was happening.</p> <p> &ldquo;How long have you worked for Balthazar?&rdquo; she fired off.</p> <p> &ldquo;Awhile.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;How long!&rdquo;</p> <p> Logan tried to think back, but no memories came. Wait&hellip;when did he get hired.</p> <p> Cadee&rsquo;s frustration was rising; she was so angry that she didn&rsquo;t even consider that she had done her own lying. &ldquo;Is anything you told me true?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;Are you even from New York?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t lie.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Where did you grow up?!&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;In the city&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;WHERE!?&rdquo;</p> <p> The man winced, as a sharp pain stung his forehead. &ldquo;I&hellip;I told you, I didn&rsquo;t lie.&rdquo; His voice faltered. He tried to picture himself as a child; tried to imagine growing up, having a mother, a father&hellip;but there was nothing. &ldquo;Cadee, stop&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;You&rsquo;re a fucking liar!&rdquo; Cadee couldn&rsquo;t stop; she just needed to know the truth. She was falling for this guy; she just needed to know the truth. &ldquo;Now it all makes sense. Your secrets, your round about answers!&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Cadee,&rdquo; he pleaded, not wanting the situation to escalate further.</p> <p> &ldquo;Tell me the truth. Just one thing without dodging the question. Is Logan even your real name?&rdquo;</p> <p> The man didn&rsquo;t answer. Suddenly the name sounded so foreign. Was it his name? Why couldn&rsquo;t he remember anything. The room began to spin around him, causing his stomach to do summersaults.</p> <p> Cadee continued to assault him with a barrage of questions. Was he human? Why did he work for Balthazar? Where did he learn to fight? And one by one, Logan realized he couldn&rsquo;t answer a single one.</p> <p> &ldquo;Who the hell are you really?&rdquo;</p> <p> A heat began to swell up inside him. At first it was just a slight warmth, but within seconds his whole body felt like it was on fire and for a moment, Logan thought he was going to explode. With each question, Logan&rsquo;s mind pushed further and further for answer, weakening the enchantment&nbsp; that shrouded him. He was just about to cry out in pain when the agony subsided. And just like that, the fog was gone.</p> <p> &ldquo;Answer me! Who are you?!&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;I&hellip;I&hellip;I don&rsquo;t know!&rdquo; Logan&rsquo;s rage shocked Cadee and himself alike. For the first time it was like the clouds had parted and he could think clearly. And with his new found clarity that he realized he couldn&rsquo;t remember a damn thing. Not his name, where he was from, how he came to work for Balthazar, how he learned to fight, why he was so strong, not a damn thing!</p> <p> &ldquo;Magic!&rdquo; The word came out with a roar. It was the only plausible explanation for his amnesia. And there was only one man who had the power to pull something like this.</p> <p> The sound of that word got Cadee out of the frenzied state she&rsquo;d been in. She covered her mouth with her hands, immediately regretting her callousness. <span style="font-style:italic">*Magic*</span> It made sense, he wasn&rsquo;t responding because he <span style="font-style:italic">couldn&rsquo;t</span>, not because he <span style="font-style:italic">wouldn&rsquo;t</span>.&nbsp; She watched him, despaired and confused, and she felt terrible, she just hoped it wasn&rsquo;t too late&hellip;&ldquo;Logan,&rdquo; she said hesitantly, walking towards him, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m-&nbsp; I&rsquo;m sorry&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t!&rdquo; Logan barked, halting Cadee in her tracks. His mind was reeling with a thousand questions and his blood was about to hit a boiling point. He was a man of action, and every cell in his body urged him to do something, problem was he didn&rsquo;t know what to do. Where did he start? Every aspect of his life was artificial&hellip;or was it? Everything was upside down and he needed to lash out. &ldquo;You, are you part of this?&rdquo; he yelled, his voice booming. It was just too much of a coincidence that the girl he was falling for ended up being part of the supernatural world. She had to be involved in this conspiracy. &ldquo;Are you part of this!?&rdquo; he repeated, louder than the first time.</p> <p> &ldquo;No! I&rsquo;m not!&rdquo; Cadee answered, and her face was the picture of confusion. She could understand if he hated her for grilling him like she had, but how the hell could he believe she was in league with Romano? &ldquo;I have nothing to do with whatever happened to you! I promise you, Logan, I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p> <p> He was only half listening to her pleas while he played back the events of the last few months in his head. The images were all there, but when he tried to access anything pre-Romano, it was just white. <span style="font-style:italic">I&rsquo;ll kill him&hellip;no, I&rsquo;ll get some answers and then I&rsquo;ll kill him!</span></p> <p> Cadee once again advanced but Logan&rsquo;s hand flew up, his finger pointing accusingly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m leaving Cadee,&rdquo; his voice was shaking with a mixture of emotion. &ldquo;And I better not find out you have anything to do with this!&rdquo; He backed away, his eyes locked on hers as if she was some sort of dangerous monster.</p> <p> The girl recoiled at his look - it hurt.&nbsp; He accused her of conspiring against him, he threatened her... only the recognition of her mistake prevented her from answering him similarly. Instead, she breathed deeply and tried to calm herself. &ldquo;You won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said at last, evenly, when she felt she could talk without lashing back at him. &ldquo;I have nothing to do with Balthazar Romano; I never had and I never will. I despise him. That&rsquo;s the only reason I reacted like I did with you, and I&rsquo;m sorry for that.&rdquo;</p> <p> A part of Logan wanted to believe her, but how could he? How could he believe anything at the moment? Grabbing his jacket, he opened his mouth to reply, but his throat was so clenched, nothing came out. It was probably for the best anyways - anything he was going to say would not have been nice. With one final icy glance, he slammed the door, leaving Cadee alone with her uneaten roast.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3515#comments Author:Ana Author:Shaun Character:Cadee Cloud Character:Logan Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:03:37 +0000 Logan 3515 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 2021-05-25 01:57 - Tuesday http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3512 <p><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The vampire took the steps to her condo two at a time. If nothing else, Jasmin was in a good mood tonight. There wouldn&#39;t be much that could get her down, after all. She was home, she had the Eye safely stowed in a small box; her sword hung in her left hand in the sheeth, carried like she had just come home from practice, if anybody had bothered to ask. Her keys were out and in the lock as she passed inside, shutting the door behind her and locking it.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Jasmin turned then and stopped at the sight before her. Balthazar she knew; Logan she knew. The other two heavies with him, she didn&#39;t. &ldquo;Balthazar,&rdquo; she spoke with more venom than usual. &ldquo;I come to find you invading my personal home without an invitation. Is there a reason for this? I thought we had an understanding.&rdquo;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The sorcerer was sitting calmly on the woman&rsquo;s sofa, surrounded by his three henchmen. &ldquo;You know what, I also thought we had an understanding. But then, you had to go and lie to me. I don&rsquo;t like liars Jasmin, I don&rsquo;t like them one bit&rdquo;. Balthazar crossed his legs, making himself comfortable as if he was in his own home. &ldquo;So it leads me to wonder, why did you do it Jasmin, why did you have to go behind my back? It&rsquo;s just so very disappointing&rdquo;. Balthazar gave a quick glance to his two brutes and they began to advance.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Jasmin looked between the two of them and sighed to herself. Humans, she knew from the smell. More importantly, how the fuck did he... <span style="font-style:italic"><i>the old geezer must have been scrying</i>.</span> She put the sword aside for a moment as they started to walk over, setting the box down, moving to stand with both arms out before her, palms in.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &ldquo;Let&#39;s do this the legal way. This is your <span style="font-style:italic"><i>warning</span></i> to leave now.&rdquo;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The first one aimed a fist to her face, the vampire&#39;s face quickly shifting as she reached up to knock the arm away. His other other came around to be blocked easily enough. As her fingers came out to strike his windpipe, she could feel the other one kick her in the kneecap. Jasmin dropped down to one knee, rolling aside in time to avoid a stake aimed at her back.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Then she was back on her feet, and moving again. She caught the next blow on the way to her chest, pulling him towards her. A quick grab, twist, and audible crack as his neck snapped. Her attention returned to the first one now, trading blows with him quickly. The din, the flow of battle, she just felt so <span style="font-style:italic"><i>alive</span></i> when it happened. As her palm struck bone of the nose, she again felt another life snuff out. Another lifetime of possibility, gone in a moment.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Jasmin licked her lips as she picked up her sword again, holding it in the left at the ready position. &ldquo;....you have no idea what a turn-on it is when someone provides foreplay like that.&rdquo;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &ldquo;Well, that was a waste of two perfectly good employees,&rdquo; the sorcerer yawned, completely unconcerned that two men were just killed. &ldquo;Logan, can you please retrieve that box there. Then we can be on our way&rdquo;.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Logan nodded, as he advanced slowly. The vampire was clearly dangerous, but he was no push over himself. When he got into range, Jasmin lashed out like a viper, her blade arching up, down and then straight towards his chest. Matching her inhuman speed, Logan spun sideways, his hand shooting out to grasp Jasmin&rsquo;s wrist. She was quick to react, kicking up, but Balthazar&rsquo;s bodyguard had anticipated the response and his foot was up even faster, knocking her leg out of the way with his own. With strength that he shouldn&rsquo;t have, he tugged to his left, practically throwing the vampire across the room.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> As she sailed through the air, she had to wonder. What was he? A normal human shouldn&#39;t be this fast or strong. Maybe one of those half-breed dem- the thought broke as her back landed on the ground. Legs came into the air, jumping back up onto her feet. &ldquo;Logan, this man is not worthy dying for,&rdquo; she snapped at him.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> When he began to come close, she struck again with blinding speed, Logan catching the blade of her sword in his hands. She could smell the blood in the palms this closely, more pungent and sweet than normal, drawing her blade back towards her, Logan&#39;s advance forcing her to actually retreat up the stairs, towards the terrace.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Logan ignored Jasmin&rsquo;s comment as he continued to stalk forward, preparing to pounce.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &ldquo;That&rsquo;s enough Logan,&rdquo; Balthazar&rsquo;s voice called out seriously. Although relatively sure his bodyguard could finish off the vampire, at this point, he was not going to take any unnecessary risks.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Grinding to a halt, Logan stopped his advance and stole a quick glance back. The sorcerer had the box in his hand. &ldquo;Whatever you want boss,&rdquo; he answered, honestly a bit disappointed. His blood was pumping and he was itching for battle.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Always an opportunist, Jasmin tried to take advantage of the distraction. Running forward, she intended to decapitate the young man, but it was now the mage&rsquo;s turn to intervene. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned an unseen force which he used to hurl Jasmin through the windows to the balcony outside.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Balthazar casually walked towards the newly smashed window and inspected the small outdoor space. No fire escape, no other close rooftops - this was perfect. &ldquo;You know, I do believe morning is just over the horizon,&rdquo; he laughed, enjoying the sight of his enemy struggling to her feet. &ldquo;When was the last time you got to see the sunrise? I bet it&rsquo;s been far too long&rdquo;.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Calling out words of power, the broken glass flew back into place, reforming the window. One final small spell to reinforce everything and it was done - the sorcerer had sealed her fate. &ldquo;Thanks for picking this up for me Jazzy,&rdquo; Romano called out, holding out the box to taunt the woman caught on the other side of the glass. &ldquo;I owe you one&rdquo;.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> With that, Romano and his bodyguard disappeared out the front door, leaving Jasmin locked out on the balcony.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Jasmin rushed forward. Rage boiled up inside, over any sense of pleasure she might have at the battle, her blade left on the roof. Hands moved over her face, expecting to crash through her own window, fantasies of digging her fangs into Balthazar&#39;s neck running through her mind....</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> ....a moment later, she was looking up from the ground, up at the windows, banging fiercly on it. &ldquo;Get back here you coward!&rdquo; she screamed at it. &ldquo;BACK HERE&rdquo; A final, frustrated bang on the door, and she turned back to survey the area, face returning to normal.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The vampire paced, and felt around in the back of her pocket. There it was. Cell phone. Handy inventions, as she looked back inside. He was gone with the Eye. For a moment, to soothe her rage, she reclaimed her blade and made just a small taste of the blood there... and the rush was incredible. Oh, it was always was, but this, this was special. Powerful.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> When she came down from the high, a plan formed, beginning to dial her contacts.</div> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3512#comments Author:Kaarin Author:Shaun Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Jasmin Character:Logan Location:Jasmin's Apartment Tue, 22 Mar 2011 01:45:10 +0000 Kaarin 3512 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 2021-05-25 00:46 - Tuesday - Waiting for a Friend http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3506 <p><p> <span style="font-weight:bold">Balthazar&#39;s Office</span></p> <p> &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a good idea to bring him,&rdquo; Balthazar whispered to Tabitha. He pointed to the two, meathead goons that were sitting patiently on the other end of his massive office, &ldquo;Dumb and dumber over have all the muscle I need for this&rdquo;.</p> <p> The weathered seer rubbed the sorcerer&rsquo;s shoulder affectionately. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t doubt that you couldn&rsquo;t handle this vampire alone darling, but it&rsquo;s not the point. A dog needs its exercise so to speak. The more he can get out of his system, the easier he is to deal with&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;I know, I know,&rdquo; he sighed. &ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t afford anything to happen. Not tonight of all nights&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;It will be fine. Take him, let him live his nature and if anything happens, just use your magic to make right the situation&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Thank god this is almost over. I&rsquo;m getting too old to deal with this shit,&rdquo; Romano laughed, his fears quelled somewhat by Tabitha&rsquo;s logic. Just then, his young bodyguard entered the room.</p> <p> &ldquo;Ah Logan, there you are. How you feeling tonight? Full of piss and vinegar I hope!&rdquo;</p> <p> Logansurveyed the room, instantly knowing it wouldn&rsquo;t be a typical evening. He recognized the psychic and the two henchmen, <span style="font-style:italic">what were their names, Bill and Frank?</span>. It didn&rsquo;t really matter. Logan knew their presence meant that whatever he was doing tonight, it involved some sort of strong arming. The young man&rsquo;s blood began to pump in excitement. &ldquo;So what&rsquo;s on the agenda then?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;We&rsquo;re visiting my friend Jasmin. She went to pick up something for me and I want to save her the trouble of coming all the way over here&rdquo;.</p> <p> Logansmirked. His boss was obviously being facetious. In reality he knew they were probably going over to forcibly take something from the woman, not that he minded. When it came to humans, Logan had a strong moral compass, but in the demon world, all that went to the wind. Morality and ethics never came into play for him when dealing with monsters. &ldquo;Sounds like fun&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;My limo is waiting downstairs, I&rsquo;ll be there in a second,&rdquo; Romano ordered. As the three men left, he turned towards Tabitha. The smile on his old face was big and bright. &ldquo;Ironic isnt it?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;The irony wasn&rsquo;t lost on me,&rdquo; she smiled back.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p> Balthazar practically skipped out of his seat as he grabbed hold of Tabitha&rsquo;s arm to walk her out. &ldquo;What a beautiful evening,&rdquo; he sang loudly, as he flicked the lights off.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3506#comments Author:Shaun Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Logan Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:43:08 +0000 Logan 3506 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 2021-05-23 22:22 - Sunday "Out of State Trip" http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3504 <p><div align="JUSTIFY"> Jasmin drummed her fingers on the dashboard of her car, looking down at her spedometer one more time. It was rarer for her to travel, and she knew that she had to get back to New York as quickly as possible. Still, the ride was only a few hours on I-95. If all went according to plan, she would have the Eye and be back in New York before anyone knew that she was gone. Looking up at the latest sign, she decided that it was time to make the call she had been dreading, putting her Bluetooth headset on.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> Reaching down, she picked up the phone to dial a number, waiting for someone to answer. A secretary picked up, and asked her to wait a moment as she was transferred to him. &ldquo;Balthazar!&rdquo; she let out before he could say anyway. &ldquo;How are you doing this evening?&rdquo;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Jasmin, darling!&rdquo; The voice on the other end of the phone was loud and excited. &ldquo;I was beginning to think you&rsquo;d never call. Put an old man out of his misery and tell me you have some good news&rdquo;.<br /> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> Her eyes glanced over to the seat beside her only briefly, with the address and sketch. Once she&#39;d seen the Eye in Kadmus&#39; work, it had proven surprisingly easy to locate. It lead to a flurry of phone calls and deals to make arrangements to meet the demon who had it to discuss a possible deal, and used up <span style="font-style:italic">most</span> of her favors owed to do this discretely. It was, she decided, fate bordering on predestination. &ldquo;Unfortunately not,&rdquo; she said, trying to keep her voice light. &ldquo;The information on the Eye is scant at best, despite my records. By all accounts, it vanished into the vaults of the Knights Templar &ndash; if it existed at all.&rdquo;<br /> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> There was a long silence as the mage was contemplated her words. Balthazar was not used to being disappointed and the bad news clearly weighed heavy on him. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s quite upsetting. You&rsquo;re telling me that with your extensive library you found nothing? No leads, ideas, anything?&rdquo; His tone was becoming frantic. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stress how important it is I get the Eye&rdquo;<br /> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> Any doubt she had had before at the course of action faded, though she could smell the opportunity. Balthazar was desperate for something, and desperation breeds stupidity. &ldquo;I don&#39;t know. Can you travel back in time a couple hundred years or so? There are limits, even to my knowledge. Although, maybe if you gave me some idea as to what you needed it for, that would help me broaden my search.&rdquo;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> There was another pause and for a moment the vampiress thought that he just may show his hand. However, despite his anxiety, Romano remained tight lipped. &ldquo;I have some critical experiments I want to do and I believe the Eye has the properties I need for them to be successful&rdquo;. It was enough to shut her up, but not enough details for her to ask questions. No, no one could find out the true reason he needed the artifact. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he damned well sure wasn&rsquo;t going to do anything to jeopardize it now. &ldquo;I need you to keep looking Jasmin. If you find it, whatever you want, you name your price and I&rsquo;ll get it&rdquo;.<br /> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">So. Close.</span></i> She swerved to the side to avoid an asshole who cut her off letting out a slight shriek. &ldquo;Sorry, stuck in traffic,&rdquo; she said, returning her voice to a light tone. A blank check. He had offered her a blank check. &ldquo;I&#39;ll keep looking. But no promises. It doesn&#39;t look good - especially with St. Vigeous, it&#39;s hard to separate fact from myth. Call you back when I have more.&rdquo;<br /> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;I look forward to it.&rdquo;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> Sitting in his office, Balthazar sighed as the phone clicked and went dead. He tried to calm his nerves but the bad news put him over the edge, &ldquo;Fuck!&rdquo;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Oh Balthazar, don&rsquo;t fret my sweet.&rdquo;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> Balthazar turned to the old woman who was sitting on the edge of his desk. She had been there for the entire conversation and from the coy smile on her face, the mage was certain she was about to be the bearer of good news. &ldquo;Well out with it. What did you see&rdquo;<br /> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;The vampire is lying through her pointy little fangs.&rdquo;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> Romano practically jumped out of his chair, as he grabbed hold of Tabitha&rsquo;s withered old hands. &ldquo;You beautiful woman, tell me more,&rdquo; he flattered.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;She knows where it is and she&rsquo;s on her way to get it now.&rdquo;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Where is it?&rdquo; His voice was almost hysterical.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;That I&rsquo;m not sure. But she&rsquo;ll be successful in getting it. By tomorrow night, it will be in her possession here in New York&rdquo;.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY"> Balthazar beamed with delight as he pulled the Tabitha close and, to her delight began to waltz around his office. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve made me a very happy old man my darling&rdquo;. As Tabitha laughed, a wicked smile crossed the mage&rsquo;s lips. If Jasmin wanted to play games, he would be happy to oblige.</div> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3504#comments Author:Kaarin Author:Shaun Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Jasmin Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:26:19 +0000 Kaarin 3504 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 2021-05-23 12:10 - Sunday "Second date" http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3502 <p><p> A large smile crossed Logan&rsquo;s face as he saw the diner&rsquo;s door open and Cadee step in. The girl was really a natural beauty; she definitely didn&rsquo;t need fancy clothes or too much makeup to get a guys attention. In fact, Logan noticed more than one head turn to admire Cadee as she made her way towards him.</p> <p> This was their second date in one week, which was insane in and of itself. Logan had never had much time off but it seemed now Balthazar was giving him more and more days off. Something in his gut still warned that something was amiss with his boss, but for now, he was going to push those thoughts away and just enjoy the time with his date.</p> <p> &ldquo;You look great,&rdquo; he said as he stood up to pull out her chair.</p> <p> &ldquo;Thanks,&rdquo; Cadee&rsquo;s smile mirrored Logan&rsquo;s, and she looked at him appreciatively.&nbsp; He looked as good in just jeans and a casual shirt than in a suit, better, if you might.&nbsp; &ldquo;you look great too, actually.&rdquo;</p> <p> She sat down and smiled up to him as he helped her with her jacket. She really liked Logan, and it was a little disturbing but he made her feel butterflies in her stomach when he smiled like that.&nbsp; It had been a while since she had felt this way, and she didn&rsquo;t want to think much about it&hellip; else she would spoil it.&nbsp; It was difficult to conciliate a hunter&rsquo;s disposition and a relationship, not to mention too many secrets and demon&rsquo;s DNA.&nbsp; But she didn&rsquo;t want to think about that at that moment, not when she could be enjoying lunch with Logan.</p> <p> She took a look around as he sat down again, &ldquo;this is a nice place, never been here before. I&#39;ve lived in this city for ten years, even worked as a courier, but you can never really know NY, right?&quot;</p> <p> &ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t that the truth. Sometimes I still feel like I&rsquo;m lost in this city.&rdquo;</p> <p> As the two scanned the menu, Logan stole a glance at Cadee. He was happy to spend time with her, but he couldn&rsquo;t help hear the small voice in the back of his head that was nay-saying. Realistically, where was he going with this? His life was far from normal, dangerous even, and was it far to bring someone else into that? For some reason, he couldn&rsquo;t picture the girl sitting with him at the Hellfire Lounge, surrounded by demons. Still, for now, he could enjoy himself.</p> <p> &ldquo;So you like working at Slainte?&rdquo; he asked, trying to make some casual conversation.</p> <p> &ldquo;It&rsquo;s OK. I like the place and Angus is a good boss;&nbsp; a bit on the weird side, though. And it&rsquo;s always full of cops,&rdquo; she chuckled, feeling naughty.&nbsp; &ldquo;I like cops, you know what they say about uniforms, right?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Well sorry to disappoint,&rdquo; he laughed, but was cut off as the waiter arrived. As the two ordered, Cadee was not oblivious to the looks the server was giving Logan.</p> <p> &ldquo;I think you might be his type,&rdquo; she chuckled as he walked off.</p> <p> &ldquo;Really? You think so,&rdquo; he smiled, as he feigned getting out of his seat, pretending to go after the waiter. The two shared a laugh and continued to make &lsquo;date conversation as they waited for their food - things were going well.</p> <p> &ldquo;So how&rsquo;s your roomate? She wasn&rsquo;t too rattled after the Graveyard incident?&rdquo;</p> <p> Cadee shook her head. &ldquo;Anne&rsquo;s tougher than she looks, after the first shaky moment she was OK. We just stayed behind the bar until it was over.&rdquo; She smiled,&nbsp; trying to steer the conversation away from that night, she didn&rsquo;t want to lie more than absolutely necessary. &ldquo;Actually, it did her good too, she&rsquo;s considering working for the club&rsquo;s owner, Jasmin Taylor.&nbsp; She got an offer after that night. Talk about a silver lining, huh?&rdquo;</p> <p> Frown lines crossed Logan&rsquo;s young face. &ldquo;You know, my boss knows her and I&rsquo;ve had the pleasure, or displeasure of meeting her a few times. It may not be any of my business, but I would stay away from Jasmin. That woman&rsquo;s bad news&rdquo;.</p> <p> *<span style="font-style:italic">You have no idea,*</span> Cadee thought, not very happy with the idea herself. They had discussed it more than once, but Anne was being mulish about it. She alleged it&rsquo;d be good for her career, and that Jasmin was a <span style="font-style:italic">good</span> vampire, as if those existed. Fact was, killing Anne wasn&rsquo;t the brightest of moves, and from what Cadee had been able to discover, Jasmin Taylor&nbsp; was no fool, so she was probably safe. She planned to pay the vampiress a visit if Anne finally took the job, anyway.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell her about it, but Anne can be pretty pig-headed.&rdquo; Cadee shrugged, &ldquo;She&rsquo;s an actress, you know, and Jasmin&rsquo;s a producer&hellip; it&rsquo;s her dream job.&rdquo;</p> <p> &quot;So you mentioned your boss knows her,&quot; Cadee said casually. &quot;Does he also work in the entertainment industry?&quot;</p> <p> Logan took a sip of water. &ldquo;Nah, he&rsquo;s just a bigwig from Wall Street who now owns his own investment firm, and about a thousand other subsidiaries. Balthazar Romano, have you heard of him?&rdquo;</p> <p> Cadee choked on her drink at the mention of Romano, she coughed and failed to breathe, making Logan get up and slap her back. When the coughing finally subdued, she managed to reassure him that she was all right.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, it went down the wrong pipe,&rdquo; she said. At least, she&rsquo;d had some seconds to think. Balthazar Romano again? What were the odds? First Jasmin&rsquo;s warning, then Meredith&rsquo;s conjectures and now this? And Romano was at odds with Jasmin? That was something to think about later. Now all she could thing about was Logan&rsquo;s connection to that sleazy man. He didn&rsquo;t fit the mould for a Romano&rsquo;s man.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard of him,&rdquo; she said, not lying. Wary for the first time with Logan, Cadee needed some time to think. &ldquo;Never met him personally, not that we move in the same circles&hellip; well, apart from book launches, I mean.&rdquo;</p> <p> Having no reason not to believe her, Logan was completely oblivious to Cadee&rsquo;s sudden change in mood. &ldquo;Not many people do. The guy&rsquo;s got more money than god, probably why he needs a bodyguard. To be honest though, the job isn&rsquo;t that exciting. Business men don&rsquo;t usually attract many stalkers or weirdos, so most of the time, I&rsquo;m just standing around at functions. He&rsquo;s generally a cool guy and it pays pretty decently, so I shouldn&rsquo;t complain&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Have you been working for him for long? How did you end being a bodyguard?&rdquo; She raised her hand, she didn&rsquo;t want to sound judgamental. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that when I think about bodyguards, they&rsquo;re more on the ape side.&rdquo; She laughed, feeling silly. &ldquo;Although that&rsquo;s probably a stereotype, right? Like all us blondes are air-heads.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Well you fit the stereotype pretty well,&rdquo; he teased. &ldquo;Actually, I haven&rsquo;t worked for him that long,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I kinda fell into the job, I guess&rdquo;. Logan tried to think back to when he started, but couldn&rsquo;t retrieve the memories. His brow furrowed momentarily in frustration, but it passed quickly. A moment later, unbeknownst to him, he had zero recollection of Cadee&rsquo;s question. &ldquo;So have you lived in NY awhile? You don&rsquo;t seem rushed and stressed enough to be a New Yorker&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Twelve years. And I&rsquo;m not stressed because I&rsquo;m your typical California girl.&rdquo; She laughed, &ldquo;I was born in a small town in California, but my mother was like a gypsy, she couldn&rsquo;t stay put for long. So we moved around: Miami, Seattle, Chicago &hellip; just to mention the big places. However, when she passed away about ten years ago, I decided to stay here. I was kinda tired, to be honest.&rdquo;&nbsp; Cadee&rsquo;s expression softened at the thought of her mother, but she shook the memories away before she would get sad. &ldquo;Besides, I was a little young to hit the road too.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;And you? Have you lived in the city long?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Yep, New York has always been my city,&ldquo; Logan responded proudly.</p> <p> &ldquo;Wow so a real born and bred. Did you grow up in Manhattan?&rdquo;</p> <p> The man&rsquo;s head cocked to the side, almost as if he didn&rsquo;t understand the question. &ldquo;Yep, grew up in New York,&rdquo; he reiterated again robotically. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to love the food here. I know the place doesn&rsquo;t look like much, but the food is fantastic&rdquo;.</p> <p> Cadee frowned. It was obvious that he was hiding something, and she felt kind of cheated, since she had already told him more than she told most people.&nbsp; She really wanted this relationship to work, and was trying not to repeat the mistakes she usually made&hellip; like lying through her teeth about practically everything. &nbsp;Maybe work secrets? That douche bag of a boss forbid him to give personal details? That thought made her frown even deeper, and she raised her menu to cover her expression.</p> <p> &ldquo;That&rsquo;s good. And the place is not bad, besides, I love food!&rdquo; She said from behind the menu. Actually, looking at the menu with knowing eyes, the selection of meals was varied and interesting, and her mouth watered; she was hungry.</p> <p> &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ll try the mushroom burger, with hash browns on the side, please.&rdquo; She asked the waiter, who had approached them again.&nbsp; Feeling a little more like herself, she lowered the menu, and watched the exchange between the two men, amused. The guy had a crush on Logan all right, and she chuckled. If she dated him, she should get used to that; the man was gorgeous! When the waiter left with their orders, she joked. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be surprised if he writes his number in your napkin.&rdquo;</p> <p> He flashed Cadee a flirtatious smile. &ldquo;Too bad for him, I&rsquo;m more into blondes&rdquo;.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3502#comments Author:Ana Author:Shaun Character:Cadee Cloud Character:Logan Storybuilding Sat, 12 Mar 2011 21:52:44 +0000 Allyana 3502 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 2021-05-20 22:21 - Thursday - Inside The Grindhouse http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3485 <p><p> <span lang="EN"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6mmL2AiSPk&amp;feature=related" class="bb-url">PLAY - MUSIC</a></span></p> <p> <em><span lang="EN"><span style="font-style:italic"></span><span lang="EN-GB">I&#39;m saying all the things that I know you&#39;ll like,<br /> Making good conversation.<br /> I gotta handle you just right,<br /> You know what I mean.<br /> I took you to an intimate restaurant,<br /> Then to a suggestive movie.<br /> There&#39;s nothing left to talk about,<br /> Unless it&#39;s horizontally&hellip;</span></span></em></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith danced, sliding her hands up and down her body. It was about the only thing she enjoyed about the job. When the music pounded, when the beat got inside her, it was almost like she was someone else. Which was good, because at the Grindhouse she wasn&rsquo;t Meredith Bell, she was Violet Raine <span style="font-style:italic">(&ldquo;Always wet for you&ldquo; - as Charlie frequently announced her on stage)</span>. She caught a glimpse of herself in one of the many mirrors, tonight she was every inch the smouldering temptress, from her smoky eye make-up and glossy cherry-stained lips to the sheer, barely-there <a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/loullabelleUK/NYBN/Mini_Ring_Dress.jpg" class="bb-url">black mini dress</a> and six inch heels. Although &lsquo;dress&rsquo; suggested more fabric than there actually was - it was pretty much a bra and a skirt joined with a metal ring. Still it was more clothes than she usually wore and it was always hot in the club&hellip; it encouraged the clientele to drink more.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">Let&#39;s get physical, physical<br /> I wanna get physical<br /> Let&#39;s get into physical<br /> Let me hear your body talk, your body talk<br /> Let me hear your body talk</span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Writhing in time to the music, Meredith pressed her scantily covered tits into the bars of the dance podium, wiggling her hips and shimmying her shoulders. Dancing was like sex&hellip; at least, that&rsquo;s what Gail said, Meredith&rsquo;s experience had made her a little more jaded to make such a comparison. Still, she understood the basic concept, it was about teasing, giving the client a taste that left him begging for more. Sure, you could shove your cunt in his face - some girls did, just like some clubs encouraged that behaviour. But the Grindhouse was a little different. If you wanted sex, get a prostitute, but a striptease was just that - seductive, tantalising and provocative. <span style="font-style:italic">&rdquo;Who&rsquo;s gonna pay to see the cow when you&rsquo;ve already tasted the milk?&rdquo;</span> - that was Charlie again, and while it was a distasteful comparison he had a point. If you played all your cards in the first hand there was no incentive to return. Meredith always kept something in reserve, and that&rsquo;s why she had more regular patrons than any other dancer. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">I&#39;ve been patient, I&#39;ve been good<br /> Tried to keep my hands on the table<br /> It&#39;s gettin&#39; hard this holdin&#39; back<br /> You know what I mean<br /> I&#39;m sure you&#39;ll understand my point of view<br /> We know each other mentally<br /> You gotta know that you&#39;re bringin&#39; out<br /> The animal in me</span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">One of the guys watching held up a ten dollar bill, a goofy grin slowly spreading across his face. Meredith smiled seductively, crouching down to where he sat and hitching up her dress to reveal the elastic of her thong. The guy&rsquo;s grin widened as he reached through the bars, sliding his finger between the fabric of her panties and her hip, tucking the bill securely in place. Meredith winked and blew him a kiss before rising back to her feet and resuming her dance. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">Let&#39;s get physical, physical<br /> I wanna get physical<br /> Let&#39;s get into physical<br /> Let me hear your body talk, your body talk<br /> Let me hear your body talk</span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Tipping her head forward, Meredith quickly flicked her hair back, several strands sticking to her lip gloss. She watched the room as she moved, sliding up and down against the bars of her cage. It was then that she saw him, his defined muscles and angles of his jaw unmistakable even in the club&rsquo;s subdued lighting. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Oh&hellip; <span style="font-style:italic">fuck</span>,&rdquo; she muttered beneath her breath. Meredith faltered for a moment, watching the man as he wandered the club. Surely he wasn&rsquo;t going to stay, he&lsquo;d never been here before so why now? Oh god..&hellip; no&hellip; <span style="font-style:italic">&ldquo;fuck, fuck, fuck&hellip;&rdquo;</span>. Flinging open the cage door and ignoring the protests of her adoring clientele, Meredith headed in the opposite direction. Not that she cared what Logan&hellip; whatever else his name was, thought of her. Hell no. But the smug smile on his face would haunt her for the rest of her days. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Hey Violet! Where&rsquo;s the fire!&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith tried to duck out of the way but her boss caught her arm, fixing her with a stern glare even while his voice remained light and playful. &ldquo;Whatcha think you doin&rsquo;? You got another ten minutes in the cage&hellip;&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Charlie, sorry. Um, personal thing, you know?&rdquo; she chanced a glance back at the doorway. Logan was still there, seemingly looking for someone. Not her. <span style="font-style:italic">God please, don&rsquo;t let him be looking for me.</span> &ldquo;A girl thing? Emergency. I&lsquo;ll make it up.&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Oh I know you will, I pay you to wiggle your ass out there, not haul it to the ladies.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">Shit!</span> Logan&rsquo;s eyes darted back and forth scanning the room for the blasted demon. He couldn&rsquo;t have picked a better place to hide &ndash; the club was dark and packed, and had enough scantily clad girls to distract any warm blooded guy. &ldquo;Damnit!&rdquo; He was out of luck. By now, his target could be anywhere. With a final huff, Logan was about to give up and leave when he noticed something or rather someone looking back at him from the back of the club. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;The Harpee?!&rdquo; A weird sense of dread and amusement simultaneously filled him. On one hand, the coincidence seemed just too outrageous to be mere chance, which was definitely unnerving. On the other hand, he had just caught the girl&hellip; at the Grindhouse&hellip; and she definitely wasn&rsquo;t dressed as one of the patrons. &ldquo;Un-bloody-believable!&rdquo;.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Unable to fight the smirk that made it&rsquo;s way onto his face, Logan could not help himself as he waved.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Oh Christ,&rdquo; Meredith groaned, turning away quickly and trying to hide her face with her hand. Maybe he hadn&rsquo;t really seen her. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Violet? Are you even listening to me?&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith turned her attention back to her boss. Charlie looked annoyed, waiting for an answer but she couldn&rsquo;t even think what he&rsquo;d been talking about. &ldquo;Er&hellip; just forget it, okay? It&rsquo;s fine&hellip; false alarm.&rdquo; Charlie threw up his hands, muttering something about &lsquo;dames&rsquo; as he headed to the bar. Meredith sighed and turned swiftly, just as Logan emerged from the crowd, slamming into her barely covered tits. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;You know, you don&rsquo;t let it go how I ran into you and yet, here you are slamming right into me,&rdquo; Logan laughed, enjoying the look of complete and utter horror on the girl&rsquo;s face&hellip;then his eyes trailed down the rest of her, specifically the tiny black see-through number that barely covered her considerable and decidedly perky assets &ndash; <i><span style="font-style:italic">damn the Harpee was smoking.</span> </i>Still grinning, Logan turned his gaze back to meet Meredith&rsquo;s. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to say, never in a million years would have guessed you worked in a place like this&rdquo;.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;And what is-&rdquo; realising they were still rather close, Meredith stepped back a little, planting her hands on her bare hips. &ldquo;And what is <span style="font-style:italic">that</span> supposed to mean?&rdquo; she asked, her voice rising defensively. &ldquo;All I do is dance, and&hellip; actually this happens to be a very respectable business.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">It didn&rsquo;t take long for the girl&rsquo;s claws to come out. <span style="font-style:italic">Did it ever!</span> Logan thought. The competitive side of him loved the fact that the girl was thrown off by his presence, yet, he couldn&rsquo;t help but feel a bit of empathy for her. He didn&rsquo;t judge her for dancing, in fact he couldn&rsquo;t have cared less, but it was obvious a part of her was embarrassed that Logan had caught her in such a vulnerable situation.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Well I&rsquo;m sure it is, but don&rsquo;t you actually have to be nice to work in a place like this? Your attitude doesn&rsquo;t really scream &lsquo;I love working with the public&rsquo; especially when said public is probably trying to oogle your goodies half the time&rdquo;.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith fixed him with a very fake smile. &ldquo;Well I see my attitude doesn&rsquo;t put <span style="font-style:italic">you</span> off &lsquo;ogling the goodies&rsquo;,&rdquo; she flicked her hair back, nonchalantly, raising her chin, &ldquo;besides, there&rsquo;s a two drink minimum, plus, if you want me to be nice you have to pay me. You, I notice, haven&rsquo;t done either. So I think I&rsquo;m probably free to behave how I like, Logan.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;You know what&rsquo;s not fair,&rdquo; Logan responded, completely disregarding her chilly attitude, &ldquo;This is what, like our third date and I still don&rsquo;t know your name&rdquo;. If he knew the Harpee that would really set her off.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span style="font-style:italic">*Date! God, this guy really thought he was Mr Super Fucking Charming didn&lsquo;t he!?*</span> Just when she thought she was being too hard on him, he flashed her that smug-ass grin that just made her want to&hellip; <span style="font-style:italic">*Gah!*</span> She considered walking off, then caught Charlie watching her from the bar with a scowl on his face. She&rsquo;d already lost her temper a couple of times this week, kneeing one guy in the groin when he made a smart remark, and giving another a black eye after his wandering hands wandered too far. Charlie had given her a simple warning, one more strike and she was out. Whether he meant it or not didn&rsquo;t matter, the last thing she was gonna do was give Logan the satisfaction of seeing her get chewed out by her boss. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;My name is Violet,&rdquo; she purred softly. Fuck it, if Logan thought he could mess with her, he was gonna be in for a surprise. Tonight she was Violet Raine, playful, flirtatious and accommodating. Not to mention uncompromisingly sexy. When she turned it on full blast most guys - even the ones who thought they were players, didn&rsquo;t know what hit them. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Sliding a hand up his chest, she rested it on his shoulder, though she&rsquo;d rather be slapping that smug look off his face. &ldquo;Welcome to the Grindhouse, if you want to take a seat, I&rsquo;ll get someone to bring you over a drink.&rdquo; God this was harder than she&rsquo;d thought, her jaw was actually aching from keeping her smile in place. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to stay and chat, but, as you see, I&rsquo;m working. Enjoy your evening.&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Logan couldn&rsquo;t deny that the girl was sexy and that he was a little turned on, but something about her act bothered him - Did he really prefer the Harpee to this?</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Well, then if you&rsquo;re working, how about you have a drink with me?&rdquo; Logan pulled out a twenty, from his pocket, and held it high so that her boss could see - now she&rsquo;d have no choice but to stick around.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&lsquo;Violet&rsquo;s&rsquo; smile never faltered, but her eyes said it all; he swore he could feel his skin starting to freeze over. Logan surprised himself. He didn&rsquo;t particularly like the girl yet a part of him wanted to know more about her. It was as if their paths seemed to keep crossing. Could it mean something? Three encounters in one week, seemed more than just coincidence.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll make you a deal,&rdquo; Logan said, looking the girl straight in the eyes. &ldquo;You tell me your real name, and I&rsquo;ll leave&rdquo;.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;My real name..&rdquo; Meredith plucked the twenty from Logan&rsquo;s fingers with a smile, &ldquo;&hellip;is Violet.&rdquo; She paused a moment, narrowing her eyes in thought as she looked at him. &ldquo;&hellip;Vodka tonic, right?&rdquo; With the hand on his shoulder, Meredith directed him back a couple of steps then pushed him down into one of the seats. &ldquo;Take a load off, have your drink, <span style="font-style:italic">then</span> you can leave.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">She gestured to one of the other girls at the bar to get their drinks, then sat down too. &ldquo;So&hellip; Logan,&rdquo; Meredith smiled, genuinely this time, enjoying the look of frustration on his face. &ldquo;I get the feeling this is your first time. So what are you doing here? Oh wait, lemme guess&hellip; you&rsquo;re working.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;I was looking for someone actually,&rdquo; he answered, a bit thrown off. How did that happen? One second ago he had the girl squirming and now she was the one in control of their little back and forth. &ldquo;You got it wrong by the way&rdquo;.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Violet blinked, not understanding what he meant.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;The drink. You said Vodka, but it was gin tonic I drink. Don&rsquo;t worry about it though, I know it&rsquo;s hard for girls to keep a clear head when I&rsquo;m around&rdquo;. Logan could barely keep a straight face as he said it. He figured Violet would be dying to give him a lashing, but the interesting circumstances prevented her from being overtly offensive. like a lioness caged.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Whatever you have to tell yourself to get outta bed in the morning, playboy.&rdquo; Meredith rolled her eyes but kept her smile in place. Leaning forward, she laid a hand on Logan&rsquo;s knee, while absently playing with her hair with the other. &ldquo;So&hellip; this person you&rsquo;re looking for&hellip;? &lsquo;Cause I have to say, seeing you here, after the party last weekend&hellip; kinda feels like you might be stalking me.&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">The man smirked, enjoying the feeling of Violet&rsquo;s hand on his leg. He had to give it to her &ndash; she had a knack for manipulating men and if he hadn&rsquo;t had his guard up, he may have fallen for her pouty lips and sexy hips. &ldquo;Sorry to disappoint, but it&rsquo;s just coincidence,&rdquo; as he said it, he wasn&rsquo;t sure himself if he believed it.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Coincidence?&rdquo; she purred back, her hand moving ever so slightly from his knee up to his thigh where he had been stabbed just days before.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Logan winced, drawing in a sharp breath and </span><span lang="EN">Meredith cocked her head to one side, frowning slightly as she pulled her hand back. She certainly hadn&rsquo;t caused that reaction, not directly anyway. <span style="font-style:italic">*Perhaps he got caught up in the shooting, Cadee said he fancied himself some kind of hero*</span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Sitting back in her chair, she watched him for a moment. Chit-chat was fine, and in truth, she was kind of curious about Logan&hellip; so long as he didn&rsquo;t turn out to be some kind of crazy stalker man. Plus, though she hated to admit it, he was kinda handsome&hellip; in an arrogant &rsquo;and doesn&rsquo;t he know it&rsquo; sort of way. If they&rsquo;d been anywhere else it would have been fine, they could share a drink and pass the time of day. But her boss was watching and if she wasn&rsquo;t finding ways to part Logan from his hard earned cash, she wasn&rsquo;t earning him money either. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;So&hellip;&rdquo; she said eventually, &ldquo;you want me to dance for you, or what?&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">The man swirled the ice in his drink, as he met her gaze. The comment was so blunt that any pleasure he was taking out of their repartee instantly vanished. The girl was usually a bitch, but at least the bitchiness was authentic. Her... the conversation&hellip; all the fakeness really grated on Logan&rsquo;s nerves for some reason. Finishing the drink in a single gulp, he turned back to Violet. &ldquo;I think I prefer the Ice Queen from the park.&rdquo; With the smile completely gone from his face, Logan got up. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to see nothing happened to you on Saturday,&rdquo; he said flatly, as he rose to leave.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith huffed in annoyance. Whenever she thought there was more to this guy than the arrogant, smug asshole he appeared to be, it turned out she&rsquo;d been absolutely right all along. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re leaving,&rdquo; she actually felt somewhat relieved, she barely knew Logan but he confused the hell out of her every single time. &ldquo;Without knocking anyone over or setting fire to the place? Must be a first.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">The comment set Logan&rsquo;s fuse ablaze. This chick really was something else! &ldquo;You wanna know something, <span style="font-style:italic">Violet,</span>&rdquo; he replied, emphasizing the fake name with contempt. &ldquo;You know why I cringed when you grabbed my thigh before?&rdquo; Logan&rsquo;s voice rose as his blood began to pump. &ldquo;I got stabbed by one of those freaks at the Graveyard Saturday night while doing everything I could to stop them from hurting anyone else, yourself included! Then, after I find you working here, I didn&rsquo;t even make one little comment because, despite everything, some little voice in my head said &lsquo;don&rsquo;t be an asshole&rsquo;. But I guess it&rsquo;s par for the course eh!? I try to be nice and I get raked over the coals for it. I don&rsquo;t even know why I bother&hellip;I should have walked the other way when I saw you across the room!&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;<span style="font-style:italic">Nice!?</span>&rdquo; Meredith rose to her feet too, and with her six inch heels she was a good couple taller than he was. Logan&rsquo;s anger fuelled her own, so much that she forgot where she was completely. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been fucking stalking me for the past week, then you show up here asking for my name and when I try and keep things professional you act like I&rsquo;ve grown a second head! And if you <span style="font-style:italic">did</span> get hurt the other night, well&hellip;&rdquo; her fiery indignation faltered for a moment, &ldquo;...I&rsquo;m sorry about that, but you got to admit, Logan, trouble sure as hell follows you around! Or is that just another coincidence too huh? Muggers, arsonists, armed thugs shooting up a night club-&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Hey, hey, hey!&rdquo; Charlie held out his hands, separating the pair before they started tearing strips off one another. His face was as red as a beetroot and he glared at Meredith with barely concealed anger. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s going on here? Violet?&rdquo; he lowered his voice, grasping hold of her arm and dragging her off to one side. &ldquo;What in Sam Hill do you think you&rsquo;re doing?! I&rsquo;ve warned you before about shooting your mouth off girl-&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith took a deep breath, brushing her hair back with one hand. &ldquo;But.. Charlie he-&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to hear it!&rdquo; Charlie turned back to Logan, straightening his jacket collar. &ldquo;Sir, I&rsquo;m terribly sorry, I can assure you I&rsquo;ll deal with this&hellip; situation personally. Violet here&hellip; well,&rdquo; he flashed Logan a conspiratorial grin, &ldquo;she&rsquo;s young, feisty&hellip; in need of a firm hand, a good&hellip; <span style="font-style:italic">man</span> to break her in, know what I mean? I&rsquo;m sure&hellip;&rdquo; he turned to give Meredith another fierce glare at all her huffs and snorts of protest, &ldquo;she would be willing to apologise&hellip; profusely.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Logan&rsquo;s face was flush, and he took a deep breath to calm down. The conversation had definitely turned heated and he now realized they must have been causing a bit of a scene.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Looking between the stripper and manager, he contemplated the man&lsquo;s words: <span style="font-style:italic">&hellip;needs to be broken in</span> The comment was disgusting and degrading and it made Logan realize something. If this was the world Violet lived in, no wonder she had a chip on her shoulder. He wouldn&rsquo;t even let Balthazar speak that way to him, let alone some loathsome nobody like this guy.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;You know what,&rdquo; Logan said, locking eyes with the girl as he debated what to do. Man, he couldn&rsquo;t stand her but&hellip; &ldquo;it was my fault,&rdquo; he said turning to the manager. &ldquo;I guess I drank too much and was a bit too forward&rdquo;.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith&rsquo;s cheeks flamed and she hated it, hated that she felt indebted to this guy she barely even knew. Better that Charlie had docked her wages, or fired her - not that he would have, he was all mouth around the clientele, but &lsquo;his girls&rsquo; were how he made his living and Meredith had too many regulars that might follow her if she suddenly started dancing elsewhere. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Charlie watched them both, clearly not buying the &lsquo;drunk&rsquo; card. He was pretty sharp when it came to his club, he probably knew how many drinks most of the guys in here had bought, not to mention how much got tucked into a girl&rsquo;s g-string, or who paid for a lap dance and all those who hung back trying to get the freebies without flashing the cash. Still he nodded, loosening his hold on Meredith&rsquo;s arm. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Well, if you&rsquo;re sure, sir. If you&rsquo;ve had enough to drink tonight, how about I get one of my girls to give you a lap dance - on the house, naturally. You&rsquo;re new tonight, right? I&rsquo;d hate for your first visit to end on such a sour note.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">He placed a hand around Meredith&rsquo;s waist, pulling her forward. &ldquo;Violet here is one of my most popular dancers. These are 100% natural you know?&rdquo; Charlie gestured to her tits and Meredith grit her teeth against the indignity of being showcased in front of Logan like a piece of steak. &ldquo;And a great ass too,&rdquo; he slapped her backside for good measure, chuckling, &ldquo;or if you prefer blondes, Candy and Angel are both available for your viewing pleasure.&rdquo; </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s cool, but I think I&rsquo;m going to take off,&rdquo; Logan said, still looking at the girl. For sure he wouldn&rsquo;t have minded taking her down a notch, but at that moment, the playing field wasn&rsquo;t even.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Suit yourself buddy,&rdquo; Charlie replied, deciding not to waste anymore time on the guy.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Logan waited until he was out of earshot. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re welcome by the way.&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">Meredith scowled, folding her arms over her chest even though the gesture in no way provided any kind of cover. This guy was unbelievable! He&lsquo;d almost gotten her fired and he wanted thanking!? &ldquo;Yeah, well&hellip; I didn&rsquo;t ask you to do any of that.&rdquo;</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Logan sighed, Hell&rsquo;s flames would have a hard time melting the frigidness out of this bitch.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Was just trying to save you some trouble,&rdquo; he said, figuring now was a good a time as any to leave. The night had been a complete failure; from losing the demon to running into the Harpee again, it all just&hellip;sucked. <span style="font-style:italic">and if I see her again, it would be too soon.</span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Having already turned to leave, Logan paused and spun back around. &ldquo;And Violet,&rdquo; he said, a smile sneaking it&rsquo;s way onto his lips. &ldquo;With a face like this, do you think I&rsquo;d need to stalk girls?&rdquo; Before the girl had time to blow a gasket, he flashed the stripper his pearly whites, winked and walked off.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure Ted Bundy said the same thing!&rdquo; Meredith growled after him, holding in a frustrated scream and stamping her foot before turning in the opposite direction and stalking back into the club.</span></p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3485#comments Author:Louisa Author:Shaun Character:Logan Character:Meredith Bell Location:The Grindhouse Storybuilding Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:04:12 +0000 Meredith Bell 3485 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 2021-05-20 22:14 - Thursday - Fox and Hound http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3484 <p><p> It was late and Logan was in no mood to be working. His leg, though mostly healed, was still sore, and had it been up to him, he&rsquo;d be having a drink at Slainte rather searching this dive bar for one of Balthazar&rsquo;s missing associates. The recent string of murders in the city had caught the sorcerer&rsquo;s attention, and from what Logan could gather, his boss thought there was a connection between the killings and a specific Grathoki demon he did business with. Problem was, this demon seemed to be laying low and avoiding Romano like the plague.</p> <p> <span style="font-style: italic">Well you can&rsquo;t hide forever</span> Logan thought, his eyes darting between the various patrons. Some of Balthazar&rsquo;s other employees had given Logan a tip that the Grathoki frequented this place often enough, (Lord knew why?), which is what brought him there that night (and a few other nights earlier in the week).</p> <p> <span style="font-style: italic">Man I don&rsquo;t want to waste another evening here</span> he began to skulk when something caught his eye. Near the back of the bar, in one of the darker sections of the room, two men were drinking together. Normally, it wouldn&rsquo;t seem odd, except one of them had the hood of his sweater pulled high and a scarf covered the majority of his face. <span style="font-style: italic">Unless he&rsquo;s some urban ninja, I&rsquo;m betting he&rsquo;s my guy</span>. Balthazar had warned him that the demon was a low level psychic but in his excitement, Logan completely forgot to &lsquo;mask his thoughts,&rsquo; - whatever that had meant.</p> <p> As Logan stalked forward, the demon&rsquo;s attention quickly turned from his companion to the man he recognized as Balthazar&rsquo;s bodyguard. The demon could practically see himself in the man&rsquo;s mind and he had no doubt that Romano&rsquo;s pitbull was there for him.</p> <p> &ldquo;Fuck!&rdquo; Logan cursed. The&nbsp;Grathoki must have picked up his thoughts and the second he noticed Logan, he had bolted towards the emergency exit only a few steps away.</p> <p> Pushing past some other patrons, Logan broke into full sprint out of the bar and onto the street&hellip; it was not his brightest idea. Pain shot through his leg and he winced, biting down on his lower lip. &ldquo;Why do they always run?&rdquo; In tip top condition, he would have caught the demon in no time, but he was far from 100%.</p> <p> &ldquo;Watch where you&rsquo;re going asshole!&rdquo; Logan could hear someone behind him scream as he charged onwards, clipping people occasionally when they didn&rsquo;t manage to get out of his way in time.</p> <p> &ldquo;Hey, hey! I just want to talk!&rdquo; It was no use though, the demon kept running, before unexpectedly turning into some club called &ldquo;Grindhouse&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Heh, should have kept running,&rdquo; Logan huffed to himself and he pushed the doors open and dashed into the club.<span style="display: none">&nbsp;</span></p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3484#comments Author:Shaun Character:Logan Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:41:09 +0000 Logan 3484 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 21:34 "Return to Slainte" http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3473 <p><p> <br /> Logan found himself pushing open the doors to the Slainte pub for the 3rd time this week &ndash; and what a week it had been. From battling Kaoshian demons at this very spot, to the attack at The Graveyard, the man had seen more action in seven days than most people see in their life. An on top of that, the week had seen an abundance of coincidences. Everyone he had met in the last few days was at the Saturday night bloodbath; the cop, the reporter, the Harpee (he shuttered), Cadee &ndash; it was weird, really weird&hellip;almost as if the events were planned.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m being crazy he thought dismissively as he scanned the room for the blonde waitress. Sure he was here to follow up on last week&rsquo;s meeting with Angus, but his top priority was making sure the girl had gotten out of the Graveyard unharmed.</p> <p> Sundays were good days at the Sl&agrave;inte. Not so many cops and the ever present happy-hour yuppies, and more family people and dates. It wasn&rsquo;t the best of days for tips, but they were easier to handle, and after last night, she needed easy!&nbsp; She slid two orders of the Sl&agrave;inte special in front of a couple &ndash;obviously a first date&ndash; and moved back to the bar, stopping at other tables on her way. She was taking another order, when she saw Logan moving towards her. She smiled, and voicelessly greeted him, before writing down what the client was asking in her little pad.<br /> The man breathed a silent sigh of relief. Cadee was clearly A-ok and at work which meant both she and Anne made it out alright. He plopped himself near the bar, waiting until Cadee finally had a second free. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really glad to see you here. I really wanted to call you last night to make sure you and Anne were ok, but realized I don&rsquo;t have your number&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;That makes two of us,&rdquo; Cadee lied. She had seen him, after the whole thing had finished, and she knew he had been hurt, but made it out alive. But well, she was supposed to be hiding behind the bar all the time. She smiled, &ldquo;maybe we should solve that and exchange numbers?&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Yeah&hellip;you know, in case there is another weird gang shooting that we&rsquo;re involved in thanks to you &lsquo;jinx-eeness&rdquo;. The two shared a laugh as they exchanged numbers in each other&rsquo;s mobiles. &ldquo;Look, I know you&rsquo;re pretty busy, and I need to have a word or two with Angus, but I&rsquo;m not in a rush. Your shift end soon?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Actually, not that long,&rdquo; she said, glancing at her watch. &ldquo;Maybe 20, 30 minutes.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Mind if I stick around?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Not at all.&rdquo;</p> <p> A grin crept onto the man&rsquo;s face as he settled on a stool and watched Cadee disappear back into the kitchen.</p> <p> Suddenly, a booming voice pulled Logan out of his reverie, &ldquo;Hasn&rsquo;t been a week yet&rdquo;. The massive red-haired owner was now standing opposite him on the other side of the bar, glaring at Logan with definite suspicion.</p> <p> The young man returned the bartender&rsquo;s cool gaze. There was no doubt Angus likely intimidated most, but Logan was not one to back down. &ldquo;So do you need more time? I came to check on Cadee after last night but I figured I&rsquo;d kill two birds with one stone.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Did you now&hellip;&rdquo; Angus&lsquo; voice trailed off, his face unreadable behind the massive red beard.&nbsp; After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the burly Scotsman spoke, &ldquo;Well you can go back at tell your boss I can&rsquo;t help&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t or won&rsquo;t?&rdquo; Logan didn&rsquo;t even know what Balthazar had asked of this man, but he had a hunch Angus was hiding something.</p> <p> &ldquo;Just what are you implying?&rdquo; The tone was icy, bordering on angry.</p> <p> Logan stole a glance back at the door Cadee had gone through. He could tell the situation was heating up and the last thing he wanted was to make a scene. &ldquo;Look, I&rsquo;m not implying anything. But, if you know Mr Romano, which I have a feeling you do, you know he gets what he wants. I just want to save everyone a lot of time and trouble&rdquo;.</p> <p> Angus&rsquo; face started to turn as crimson as the hair on his head. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like your tone kid. I said I couldn&rsquo;t help and it ends there. And, if Balthazar has a problem, you can tell him to come see me in person.&rdquo;</p> <p> Logan was a surprised and a bit impressed. He could appreciate the man&rsquo;s guts if not his questionable judgment. <span style="font-style:italic">I just hope this doesn&rsquo;t come back to bite you in the ass big guy</span>.</p> <p> &ldquo;You got me boy?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Yeah I got you,&rdquo; Logan conceded, deciding not to press the issue before speaking with Romano. &ldquo;But if you ever want me to tip, you better not call me &lsquo;boy&rsquo; again - you got me? Now how about a beer?&rdquo;</p> <p> Angus huffed - what he wouldn&rsquo;t give to wring the neck of the arrogant young man.</p> <p> The day had been good, Cadee thought again, happier this time, the bar closed earlier and her shift was shorter. Quickly, she took off her apron and vest and put on a light jacket from her locker, then she looked at herself in the mirror and let her pony tail loose, combing her hair with her fingers in an unsuccessful attempt to put some order to her curls, and finally she applied some gloss, with better results. When she was satisfied with her looks, she returned to the bar. &nbsp;<br /> She knew Logan was still waiting for her, she had seen him talking with Angus when she left to the personnel area, hopefully he would be done by then. She smiled when she saw that he was sitting alone, sipping from a long neck beer, Angus busy on the other end of the long bar. &nbsp;<br /> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready when you&rsquo;re ready,&rdquo; she told him, leaning on the counter next to him.<br /> &ldquo;Definitely ready,&rdquo; Logan replied, struggling to get off the stool. His face grimaced as a shot of pain erupted in his leg where he had been stabbed the night before.</p> <p> &ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong?&rdquo; Cadee asked concerned, though she already knew the answer. She had seen the zombie stab him, of course she couldn&rsquo;t let the man know that.</p> <p> &ldquo;I banged up my leg during the fight last night.&rdquo; It wasn&rsquo;t a lie per say, but Cadee definitely didn&rsquo;t need to know the extent of the injury - no need to worry her. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll survive though,&rdquo; he smiled, as they left the bar, &ldquo;they make&rsquo;em strong where I&rsquo;m from&rdquo;.</p> <p> Didn&rsquo;t push the subject. &ldquo;Good to know. So, where are you from by the way?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;New York&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;re a born and bred New Yorker then?&rdquo;</p> <p> Logan opened his mouth to answer, but the words never came and his mind clouded over. Huh&hellip;what? For a moment, the man couldn&rsquo;t focus and he completely lost his train of thought. &ldquo;So nice night, eh?&rdquo; he said, changing the subject.</p> <p> Cadee looked at him, puzzled; that was strange. Maybe he wanted to go somewhere and didn&rsquo;t know how to propose it?&nbsp; That was even stranger, he didn&rsquo;t seem the shy type. She looked at the night sky, the moon was shining brightly, even if it wasn&rsquo;t full already &ndash;fortunately &ndash; and it wasn&rsquo;t cold. &ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; she finally said, going with the flow, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a great night, much better than yesterday!&rdquo;</p> <p> He couldn&rsquo;t hold back the laugh. &ldquo;Well, it doesn&rsquo;t take much to be better than last night. So,&rdquo; Logan began with a playful grin, &ldquo;every time I seem to hang out with you I find myself in some sort of trouble. Think I&#39;ll manage to get through the night without getting shot or shanked?&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&hellip; but it&rsquo;s worth a try,&rdquo; she answered, grinning, and fervently hoping they didn&rsquo;t find any vampires in their way. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t live too far, just a couple of blocks. But I need to get my bike from the back alley. Mind walking both of us home?&rdquo;<br /> &quot;Well, I&#39;ll walk the bike home, you, not so sure,&quot; he answered teasingly as the two made their way into the night.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3473#comments Author:Ana Author:Shaun Character:Cadee Cloud Character:Logan Sat, 05 Feb 2011 22:06:01 +0000 Logan 3473 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 23:12 - Balthazar's Limo http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3466 <p><p> &ldquo;You know you&rsquo;re bleeding all over the leather,&rdquo; Balthazar said coolly, as he reached into the limo&rsquo;s liquor cabinet for the bottle of brandy.</p> <p> After Pablo had left Logan on a bench in the club, the shooters either got away or were apprehended, he wasn&rsquo;t quite sure which. After that, it wasn&rsquo;t long before Logan spotted his boss, strolling casually down the stairs, completely unaffected by the night&rsquo;s events. Knowing Romano&rsquo;s aversion to cops and messy situations altogether, the bodyguard had no choice but to pull himself to his feet and hobble after Balthazar. Together, the two had made a discreet exit from the Graveyard bloodbath.</p> <p> &ldquo;So what exactly possessed you to get involved in all that nonsense?&rdquo;</p> <p> Logan&rsquo;s head was swimming. He leg was mangled, people were dead and despite all that, Balthazar didn&rsquo;t seem the least bit worried. <span style="font-style:italic">You sadistic piece of&hellip;.</span>. In the blink of an eye, a wave of intense dizziness washed over the injured man, causing him to lose focus as he struggled to suppress the bile rising in his throat. But, as quick as it came, the nausea left and with it, his train of thought as well.</p> <p> &ldquo;Cat got your tongue my boy?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;No, sorry sir,&rdquo; the bodyguard winced. &ldquo;I just figured it was better for me to try and stop the shooters before they got up to the second level where you were&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;So preemptive body-guarding is what you&rsquo;re saying,&rdquo; the sorcerer replied, his voice flat and ambiguous.</p> <p> &ldquo;I guess you could call it that&rdquo;. Biting down on his lip, the man fought through the jolt of pain coming from the stab wound.</p> <p> While Logan struggled to keep himself together, Balthazar on the other hand seemed cool as a cucumber. &ldquo;Well you&rsquo;re nothing if not proactive. I like that, you don&rsquo;t find that quality in a lot of employees these days. Of course,&rdquo; he added, taking a sip from his glass, &ldquo;being recklessly proactive is not necessarily a good thing&rdquo;. The sorcerer had to play his cards right. There were so many moving pieces on the board now and with his plans so close to completion, he couldn&rsquo;t risk Logan getting himself killed.</p> <p> &ldquo;People were getting shot, I couldn&rsquo;t just stand by and..&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;I know I know,&rdquo; Balthazar said in his most understanding voice. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re good at being the hero Logan, but that&rsquo;s a dangerous game to play. You keep tempting the odds like that and eventually your number will get called&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;You pay me to look out for you and that&rsquo;s what I was doing.&rdquo; Though technically true, Logan had other personal reasons to get involved. With Cadee and her friend at the party, he definitely had had a reason to try and help put and end to the chaos.</p> <p> The two sat quietly for a moment, draped in an awkward silence. Logan knew his boss well enough that he could tell the old man&rsquo;s mind was elsewhere, but where? His gut told him Romano knew more about tonight than he let on, but before Logan could question, the sorcerer spoke.</p> <p> &ldquo;You plan on visiting Angus this week? I&rsquo;m still waiting for an answer&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Yeah, actually, I&rsquo;ll go tomorrow,&rdquo; Logan replied almost eagerly. Stopping at Slainte meant he could check up and make sure Cadee was alright.</p> <p> &ldquo;Will you be up to it?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Well, if you can do some hocus pocus on my leg, I should be good to go. I heal pretty fast anyways&rdquo;.</p> <p> Balthazar smiled as he noticed that the bodyguard&rsquo;s leg had already stopped bleeding. &ldquo;They make them tough where you come from,&rdquo; he chuckled slyly.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3466#comments Author:Shaun Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Logan Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:04:59 +0000 Logan 3466 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 22:48 Logan and Pablo on the dance floor http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3464 <p><p> Logan&rsquo;s eyes glanced back up the staircase scanning for any sign of Balthazar. If he couldn&#39;t see him then he felt reasonably sure he was safe from gunfire. So much for &lsquo;what bad could happen?&rsquo;, he swore silently, pushing his way past a group of hysteric party-goers.</p> <p> Time for plan &#39;B&#39;. If Logan couldn&rsquo;t be by his boss&rsquo;s side upstairs the only other option was to incapacitate the gunmen downstairs. Plus, the faster he could take down the psychos, the better chance Cadee and Anne had to get out of this bloodbath unscathed.</p> <p> With iron resolve, Logan pushed onwards towards the action. He felt like a salmon swimming upstream, his path considerably slowed by the wave of frenzied patrons doing their best to get away from the shooting.</p> <p> Pablo shoved his way upstream from the front door and ducked around a corner.&nbsp; He pulled the chain on his badge over his head and checked the .45.&nbsp; It wasn&#39;t a full clip but the remaining seven bullets should be enough as long as it didn&#39;t turn into a prolonged gunfight.&nbsp; A pretty girl with a panicked look got shoved into him.&nbsp; She saw the gun and nearly screamed but then she saw the badge. &quot;Thank God you are here! Two nut-bags came in the back and started shooting!&quot;</p> <p> Pablo listened to her politely while trying to see around her.&nbsp; He could hear shots at the back of the room which made her statement irrelevant. There was still a lot of activity inside and he needed to get closer.&nbsp; &quot;I have called for backup, lady, but I have to get you out of here. Head to the door.&nbsp; Keep down.&nbsp; Go!&quot;</p> <p> She nodded sheep-like and started to move when a bullet hit her square in the back.&nbsp; Her blood sprayed over the people in front of her.&nbsp; She laid there on the ground bleeding out while looking at him to do something. He had to pull his eyes away from the sight and did what he could.&nbsp; He kept his head down and charged in while saying a prayer...for both her and him.</p> <p> &ldquo;Watch out!&rdquo; Logan all but tackled a young man who was about to stray into the path of the newest round of gunfire. &ldquo;Look there&rsquo;s an exit there, go! Run now!&rdquo;</p> <p> With a terrified nod, the man mumbled something that resembled a &lsquo;thanks&rsquo; before charging to safety, which now provided Logan with a clear view of the shooters.</p> <p> For a moment, he stopped dead in his tracks, astonished at what lay before him &ldquo;Oh Fuck!&rdquo; One of the shooters was missing the better part of his face and for, all intent and purposes. There was no way he should even be alive. The other assailant, though not as disfigured as his jawless counterpart, had a huge gash running down his back, exposing his gruesome innards. Being employed by Balthazar had opened up a world of crazy, but these guys just topped the scale of weird. Of course, strange or not, Logan had a job to do and he wasn&rsquo;t about to let the crazed zombies get away with this.</p> <p> Fighting his natural instinct, Logan held back, waiting for a break in the gunfire &ndash; sure he was strong and fast, but he sure as hell wasn&rsquo;t bulletproof. Luckily, it didn&rsquo;t take more that a few seconds for the moment he needed and with one final, deep breath, he exploded into a full sprint, straight for the one with an intact head.</p> <p> Completely caught of guard by the speed of his attacker, Kosta had no time to raise any defense before the man connected with a flying shoulder tackle. Both Logan and revenant tumbled to the ground, the force of the impact sending the gun flying harmlessly out of the killer&rsquo;s hand.</p> <p> Quicker to recover, Logan pounced on Kosta, and wrapped his powerful arms around the villain&rsquo;s head, &ldquo;You piece of shit!&rdquo; Logan spat. With one violent twist, there was a sickening crack as he snapped the man&rsquo;s neck. Expecting the man to fall down dead, Logan rolled to a stance facing the faceless wonder.</p> <p> A voice behind him said, &ldquo;Not so fast pretty boy!&rdquo;</p> <p> it was Logan&#39;s to be caught by surprise. He was completely unprepared when the zombie jumped back to his feet.</p> <p> &ldquo;Sitting duck right over here, Zoran,&rdquo; Kosta yelled to his partner while struggling to hold the would-be hero in place.</p> <p> &quot;Hur ghur ghorgee,&quot; the grotesque tongue flapped over the ragged hole of the ghoul&#39;s throat as he raised his machine-gun to point at Logan.</p> <p> The sound of two loud shots rang out through the club.&nbsp; Logan flinched only to see Pablo Sandoval standing behind the bar wielding an automatic pistol in a tow-hand stance.&nbsp; Zoran&#39;s remaining eye looked down at the huge holes in his torso and his eyebrow knotted, &quot;Wiizzg wee,&quot;&nbsp; it said. And aimed at Pablo.</p> <p> Pablo yelped and ducked behind the bar as the glass, bottles, Lexan and neon lighting exploded around him.</p> <p> Logan twisted and managed to get an arm free long enough to grab his attacker&#39;s ear and he pulled, hard.&nbsp; The ear ripped free of the skull and the attacker let go of Logan long enough for him to hop aside.&nbsp; He was about to counter-attack when two burly security guys grabbed the leather-clad thug and began to wrestle him to the ground.</p> <p> Ensuring that his attacker was properly subdued, Logan tossed the dismembered ear and headed towards the remaining zombie. The cop had arrived in the knick of time to save his life, and it was time to repay the favour! <em>D&eacute;j&agrave; vue</em> For the second time this week he and Pablo found themselves fighting side by side, just another weird coincidence to add to the already bizarre chain of events.</p> <p> Logan was about to distract the headless gunman when circumstances did the work for him.&nbsp; A bright flash of light flooded the alleyway alongside the building.&nbsp; The strobing white light turning the dark abattoir of a dance floor into a macabre still-life of bodies and blood.&nbsp; Then the CRACK of lightning that made the window panes shake, crack, and shatter in places.</p> <p> Logan did not hesitate to take advantage of the distraction and with expert precision spun like tornado, his first leg kicking the gun out of the monster&rsquo;s hand, his next kick landing square in Zoran&rsquo;s chest.</p> <p> The beast garbled some form of inaudible protest, but Logan only continued his rampage. No one could argue that fighting a zombie in the middle of a New York party was definitely strange, and yet, the bodyguard couldn&rsquo;t help but feel a strange sensation of what he could only describe as &lsquo;rightness&rsquo; wash over him. The battle, the blood, the mayhem&hellip;it all seemed vaguely familiar and so oddly comforting.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll find some way to kill you, you Fucker!&rdquo; Logan roared, as he speared the ghoul to the floor and began to beat on the already pulverized head.</p> <p> Zoran, pinned by Logan&#39;s body, reached into a boot and pulled out a hunting knife which he sank deep into his attacker&#39;s leg.</p> <p> Even as Logan paused his assault momentarily a heavy studded boot kicked him hard in the shoulder to knock him to the ground. &quot;Don&#39;t beat Zoran like dat! His head not so good no more,&quot; a heavily accented voice said and punctuated with it a .50 cal. Desert Eagle pointed at Logan&#39;s head.</p> <p> Pablo rose from the bar in time to see the gun rise.&nbsp; Without hesitation he climbed to the top of the ruined bar and launched himself in a dive at Drago. Pablo had no idea who he was, but he was defending one of those...things.&nbsp; They weren&#39;t dead or rotten, so they weren&#39;t zombies.&nbsp; He didn&#39;t know what they were.&nbsp;</p> <p> The security guys had pretty thoroughly pinned the other one and the cops would deal with him soon enough.&nbsp; While behind the bar he&#39;d had just enough time to call dispatch to make sure that his men of the SCU Tactical were being sent rather than the usual NYPD boys.&nbsp; He&#39;d had enough time to specify what was going on in a vague sort of way since he wasn&#39;t sure what was going on himself at the moment.</p> <p> He hit Drago hard enough that he fell over and dropped his cannon, but it ended up with him, Pablo, the thing and Logan all sprawled among the corpses and wounded lying on the dance floor.&nbsp; Drago and Zoran scrambled towards the exit as Pablo crawled towards Logan.</p> <p> &ldquo;Shit,&rdquo; Logan winced, the pain running from his thigh through the rest of his body. The knife was buried deep and it was going to be a bitch taking it out. But out it needed to come, so with gritted teeth, and one deep breath, he tugged with all his might. &ldquo;Arrghggg Fuck!&rdquo; The agony was intense, and it clouded his vision, causing him to recognize Pablo only when he was close.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fine, and thanks for the save&rdquo; he huffed, applying pressure to the gaping wound. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to make sure those bastards don&rsquo;t get away&rdquo;. With fierce determination, the man struggled to his feet, only to have his leg give out half way up. Pablo was quick, catching hold of the man before he crumbled back to the floor</p> <p> <em>Geez, he&rsquo;s a lot heavier than he looks</em></p> <p> &ldquo;Forget me, they&rsquo;re getting away&rdquo; said Logan, pulling himself free of cop&rsquo;s grasp.</p> <p> Pablo held on despite Logan&#39;s protests.&nbsp; &quot;Let them go.&nbsp; I got a good look at the big one and the other guy isn&#39;t going to be able to hide for long with a head like that. There are people here who need help first, starting with you.&quot;</p> <p> Pablo lowered Logan into a booth and lifted his leg onto the table to examine the wound. &quot;&iexcl;Mi&eacute;rcoles!, This is a deep cut.&nbsp; You need to keep pressure on it.&nbsp; Can you feel your toes?...no nerve damage?&quot;</p> <p> Logan shook his head in pain and Pablo nodded. He went back into the dance floor to check for any other survivors he could help.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3464#comments Author:David Author:Shaun Character:Juan Pablo Sandoval Character:Logan Location:Graveyard Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:37:29 +0000 mrdave2176 3464 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 22:46 Logan and Cadee again http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3454 <p><p> &ldquo;Stop drooling, you two,&rdquo; Anne interrupted. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be sued because the floor is all slippery.&rdquo;</p> <p> Watching the two soon to be love-birds go all blushed and shy, Anne rolled her eyes. People were so predictable!&nbsp; Of course, she couldn&rsquo;t find fault in Cadee&rsquo;s taste, Logan was hot indeed, and certainly she couldn&rsquo;t fault <em>his </em>taste either.&nbsp; Too bad she wasn&rsquo;t into girls, or she would want a piece of Cadee too. <em>*Or good you aren&rsquo;t, she wouldn&rsquo;t give you the time of day anyway,*</em> she corrected herself, on a second thought.</p> <p> Cadee laughed at her friend&rsquo;s comment, fortunately not aware of her thoughts. &ldquo;So Logan, would you like a drink? They make great martinis here-&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not the waitress tonight, Cade,&rdquo; Anne interrupted.</p> <p> Cadee smiled apologetically to Logan. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you have to go upstairs, Annie? Chase any tall vampire-wannabe?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Oh, no! This is so much better!&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;How about I get you girls a drink,&rdquo; Logan laughed. It was the first time he was enjoying himself all evening.</p> <p> As the three began to snake their way closer to the bar, a blood curdling scream rang out in the club, eclipsing chatter and music a like. It was one of those unbelievable moments, so strange and unexpected that it all seemed to go in slow motion. The sound of gunshots exploded into the club as a number of armed men barged in, indiscriminately taking aim.</p> <p> Logan&rsquo;s heart began to race, instantly sobering him as he jumped into action. &ldquo;Duck!&rdquo; he screamed, fiercely pulling both Cadee and Anne next to him. Bullets continued to whiz through the room, cutting down whatever was in their path. With instinct taking over, Logan turned his back to where the majority of the ruckus was coming from and did his best to cover the two women. &ldquo;Just stay down&rdquo; he yelled over the cacophony of screams.</p> <p> <em>Shit</em>&nbsp;Logan was cursing. He had to get to Balthazar, but his heart wasn&#39;t going to let him abandon Cadee and Anne</p> <p> Cadee&rsquo;s first reaction was to jump into action, like Logan did, but a lifetime of going low- profile prevailed. She ducked behind the man and did her best to cover Anne herself.&nbsp; She could hear the bullets and all the screaming, but from her present position, she couldn&rsquo;t really see what was happening. Damn, she needed to get rid of him so she could actually <span style="font-style:italic">do</span> something. And she needed to take care of Anne.</p> <p> &ldquo;What the hell is happening?&rdquo; she shouted to Logan, trying to get heard over all the noise in the room.</p> <p> &ldquo;I have no idea!&rdquo; Logan yelled, pulling them both closer into his chest as another round of &lsquo;BANGS&rsquo; sounded out. &ldquo;You have to get behind the bar, you&rsquo;ll be safer there! The room had now descended into complete and utter chaos, which, fortunately enough, gave the trio the opening they needed to make a move. &ldquo;Now, go!&rdquo; he screamed, trying to usher the girls to safety so he could race into the action.</p> <p> Right, behind the bar. Good thinking.&nbsp; Cadee nodded in consent&nbsp; and grabbed Anne by her arm, thankful that for once, the girl wasn&rsquo;t complaining.&nbsp; They were close enough to the bar to get there without much danger, she moved swiftly and all but throw her friend over and behind the solid mahogany bar. She looked back for a moment, before jumping herself, Logan only seconds behind.</p> <p> &ldquo;Just stay here ok!&rdquo; Logan shouted. Anne had started to sob, but Cadee was surprisingly much more composed. He looked at the blonde and then took Anne&rsquo;s hand, squeezing it comfortingly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to get out of this, I promise. Cadee, I&rsquo;ve got to go help, so you have to be in charge here. Please, just stay here.&rdquo;</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;And you just be careful,&rdquo; Cadee said, nodding. She liked being protected, but at the moment she needed to be left alone so she could do her thing.&nbsp; Feeling all princess Leia, she pulled him close and gave him a quick kiss. &quot;For luck.&quot;</p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3454#comments Author:Ana Author:Shaun Character:Anne Millet Character:Cadee Cloud Character:Logan Storybuilding Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:13:52 +0000 Allyana 3454 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 21:42 Logan and Pablo in the bathroom http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3432 <p><p> Pablo slammed the door of the bathroom hard enough to make two of the men at the urinals jump. <em>That rat bastard</em>, he fumed, <em>How dare he threaten the innocent people at this party in a game of my dick is bigger? I&#39;d win, anyways.</em></p> <p> He splashed water on a towel and wiped his face, the cool feeling on his hot face eased his nerves. He&#39;d had a drink or two too many, he thought. He should know better than to mix work and pleasure. He was here to enjoy himself and goading Balthazar Romano didn&#39;t accomplish anything useful.</p> <p> Logan was still smiling to himself, picturing <em>The Harpee&rsquo;s</em> face, red and ready to blow. Did that girl have a chip on her shoulder or what? <em>But she&rsquo;s got a great pair of legs&hellip;</em>.</p> <p> Squeezing through another set of Lucinda fans, Logan pushed open the bathroom door, only to once again run into the cop - and he did not look happy.</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;Hey buddy, everything ok?&rdquo;</p> <p> Pablo sighed and straightened himself. &quot;Yes, I&#39;m fine. I just let some...thing get to me. I needed a second to cool off. I&#39;m good now.&quot;</p> <p> He forced himself to smile at the young man, &quot;I&#39;m under control,&quot; he said, but he wasn&#39;t sure who he was trying to convince himself or Logan.</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;You know how people get with a few drinks in them, don&rsquo;t worry about it&rdquo;.</p> <p> He couldn&rsquo;t help but wonder why his boss was so adamant that he stay away from Pablo. Balthazar wasn&rsquo;t a bad guy, so why exactly did he have beef with this cop? One thing Logan knew is that his gut told him Lt. Sandoval was one of the good guys.</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;You know, I never really got to thank you,&rdquo; Logan began awkwardly, already semi regretting the words that came out of his mouth. He was definitely opening a can of worms, but some things needed to be said. &ldquo;Had you not been there on Tuesday night&hellip;&rdquo; he let the words trail off.</p> <p> Sandoval could feel the alcohol fogging his mind again, &quot;What? Don&#39;t sweat it, us humans have to stick together. They are out there, you know? Out to get us.&quot;</p> <p> He felt ill. Something he&#39;d eaten, drank, or put up with tonight was having its say.</p> <p> &quot;&#39;Scuse me!&quot; Sandoval mumbled and bolted for a stall.</p> <p> The rush of food and liquor was out in a flash. A second heave finished the deal. &quot;Ugh, I should know better,&quot;&nbsp; he said flushing away the evidence. His mind was clearing.&nbsp;</p> <p> Logan was caught a little of guard by Pablo&rsquo;s sudden turn for the worse - then again, probably a blessing in disguise. He didn&rsquo;t want to dwell on Tuesday&rsquo;s events.</p> <p> &ldquo;Buddy, you alright?&rdquo; he called at Pablo.</p> <p> A mumbled, &ldquo;Fine,&rdquo; came from the stall.&nbsp; He slipped out nonchalantly.<em>Man</em><em>, this night is turning out to be fucking weird.</em></p> <p> Sandoval spit a few times to clear the bits in his mouth before heading back to the sink to clean up. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t you, Juan Pablo,&rdquo; He said to the face in the mirror, &ldquo;What has gotten into you?&rdquo;</p> <p> He made a final check before he, too, exited the restroom.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3432#comments Author:David Author:Shaun Character:Juan Pablo Sandoval Character:Logan Location:Graveyard Sun, 23 Jan 2011 23:11:23 +0000 mrdave2176 3432 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 21:04 Pablo and Logan on Balcony http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3425 <p><p> &nbsp;&ldquo;Logan, you don&rsquo;t need to hover around all night,&rdquo; Balthazar whispered, as he waved to yet another person he presumably knew. You had to give the man credit, he was an expert at working a room.</p> <p> &ldquo;Just doing my job sir.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;I know, I know, but how am I supposed to meet any of these gorgeous ladies with a guy like you standing next to me?&rdquo; The sorcerer had one of his mischievous grins plastered all across his face. He slapped Logan on the back and pointed discreetly to a red headed bombshell just a few feet away. &ldquo;If we go talk to her, who do you think she&rsquo;s going to be more interested in, an old man like me, or a young buck like you?&rdquo; Logan smirked, he had a point. &ldquo;Now give a player a chance Logan, go get a drink or something.&rdquo;</p> <p> The bodyguard was hesitant. &ldquo;You sure?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Of course. This place is filled with publishing suits and literature groupies, not really the most dangerous crowd. Now I&rsquo;m going to make my move, so skedaddle would you&rdquo;.</p> <p> &ldquo;Alright, but I&rsquo;ll be close&rdquo;.</p> <p> With Balthazar scurrying off after the vivacious redhead, Logan was left standing alone. *This is a bit awkward*. Not sure what to do with himself, he decided to get the lay of the land so to speak. The place was crowded, but Balthazar had a point, no one looked particularly dangerous.</p> <p> &quot;Sorry....excuse me....sorry about that.&quot; Logan did his best to wade through the mass of people, until he noticed a man going through an archway to a more sparse area of the club. Smart guy Logan thought, following him, hoping to get some respite from the crowds. As he passed through the threshold, he immediately regretted his decision. The man he had been following to salvation had stopped to lean against the wall.&nbsp; Even from behind, Logan immediately recognized him. The cop! Fantastic. Was this just another coincidence or was something going on Logan wondered.</p> <p> Sandoval breathed easier now that he was out on the balcony, even though he didn&#39;t smoke, it was clear that this was usually a smoker&#39;s refuge. The beat of the music was still loud but it wasn&#39;t making his temples throb like it had been. He set his drink down on the railing and closed his eyes only to hear a voice behind him.</p> <p> &quot;Hey Pablo, right?&quot;</p> <p> Pablo turned and saw Logan, the strange man from earlier this week that had been attacked by the demons. He&#39;d not stopped to get to know him because of Alison, but he still had questions. It&rsquo;s was a party, it might be better to approach this as a social contact rather than a police matter. Pablo smiled and extended a hand.</p> <p> &quot;Pablo, tonight, Detective Sandoval most of the time. Logan, isn&#39;t it? Look don&#39;t look so stricken. I&#39;m off duty. I had to come out here because if I hear that &#39;unh-chik unh-chik unh-chik&#39; beat for another second I&#39;m going to either have to start dancing or go postal.&quot;</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;Not sure which one is worse,&rdquo; Logan smiled, though he still remained a bit on edge. Balthazar&rsquo;s warning about Sandoval rang in his ear, even though his own &lsquo;spidey sense&rsquo; was definitely not tingling.</p> <p> &nbsp;&ldquo;Funny, I wouldn&rsquo;t have pegged you as a Lucinda Graves fan,&rdquo; he said, trying to make small talk. It was a tough situation - on one hand, he knew he couldn&rsquo;t just excuse himself without drawing suspicion, but on the other, if he stayed and chatted, for sure the topic would turn back to Tuesday night.</p> <p> Pablo laughed, &quot;I&#39;m not. Lucinda is shallow and vain, and I&#39;ve not read any of her books. <em>Alison</em>, on the other hand, is someone I admire and am looking forward to getting a lot closer to in the coming days.&quot;</p> <p> <em>The cop and the reporter together?</em> It was as if the coincidences were just compounding. &ldquo;Well, tonight&rsquo;s probably not the best date night is it,&rdquo; Logan chuckled, taking a quick glance back at the crowded interior.</p> <p> Pablo thought that Logan was glancing over his shoulder uncomfortably.&nbsp; Almost as if he was embarrassed to be seen with a cop. Pablo hated to push him for fear he&#39;d run again, but he had a feeling that he&#39;d be back before long.</p> <p> Pablo leaned back and lifted his drink, &quot;I didn&#39;t think it would be, but it has actually been very entertaining. I&#39;ve been able to see another side of Alison I didn&#39;t know. I&#39;ve been able to be an insider and an outsider tonight. You, for instance, why would you be at this party? What is your connection to either Lucinda Graves or Graveyard Club?&quot;</p> <p> The young man knew the cop wouldn&rsquo;t buy it if he said he was a die hard Lucinda fan, but what was the other option? The club owner was a vampire so it wasn&rsquo;t a good idea to connect himself to her either. Unconsciously, he began to rub his neck nervously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ah&hellip;I&rsquo;m actually working tonight. I do security&rdquo;.</p> <p> Pablo nodded, lots of guys work security at clubs, especially if they are strong and have some training. &quot;Nice work, especially tonight,&quot; Pablo tipped his glass toward a cluster of young, half-naked, heavily made-up ladies surrounding the blond giant who modeled the covers of Lucinda&#39;s books.</p> <p> &quot;Of course, if you were doing security, you&#39;d be closer to <strong>her</strong>,&quot; Pablo pointed the other way towards Jasmin who was being a gracious hostess and greeting people as they came in, &quot;or <strong><em>him</em></strong>,&quot; Pablo pointed at a darkened corner where Balthazar was lurking.</p> <p> Pablo&#39;s eyes burned across the darkened room. He talked absently as if thinking aloud, &quot;I spotted him a few minutes ago. I am trying to guess what his interest is in this particular event.&quot;</p> <p> Then he returned his focus to Logan and the moment, &quot;Never mind, It isn&#39;t your problem.&quot; He drained his drink, &quot;I&#39;m going to get another and maybe strafe the buffet again. Have fun.&quot;</p> <p> &nbsp;</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3425#comments Author:David Author:Shaun Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Juan Pablo Sandoval Character:Logan Location:Graveyard Sun, 23 Jan 2011 18:49:38 +0000 mrdave2176 3425 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 20:35 Alison, Balthazar and Logan http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3421 <p><p>Wending her way through the crowd, Alison caught up with Connie after having to stop only a couple of times to sign autographs and chat for a few moments with assorted people. </p> <p>“There you are!” Connie grabbed Alison’s hand and pulled her through one more crush of people to where an older man stood with Jasmin. The two seemed to be very close, their heads together, and Alison tried to pull back. </p> <p>“Connie, I’m not sure we should disturb them.”</p> <p>“Nonsense, it’s a party. Besides, it’s my turn to have a chat with our lovely hostess anyway.”</p> <p>As they drew closer, Jasmin carefully disengaged her arm from the man’s and cast a glance her way that looked like gratitude. <span style="font-style:italic">Ah, and haven’t we all been in that situation?</span> Alison mused, glad now that Connie had insisted on breaking into this tête-à-tête.</p> <p>“Balthazar, you old devil,” Connie began cheerily, “I’d love to introduce you to tonight’s guest of honour. This…” She gestured, game-show girl style, over Alison from head to foot as though she were a fancy car on display. “…is Lucinda Graves. Lucinda, meet Balthazar Romano, one of New York’s most eminent entrepreneurs.”</p> <p>“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” As Alison extended her hand to Balthazar, it wasn’t lost on her how Connie took the opportunity to sweep Jasmin off to one side. Still, helping to rescue the owner of the club from the unwanted attentions of one of the guests could be considered her good deed for the day. And gaining the ear of a businessman was never a bad thing, either. </p> <p>The older man took Alison’s hand and brought it to his lips. “The pleasure is all mine. I’ll confess right now, I haven’t read your series - I don’t think an old man like me is quite the right demographic,” he laughed, charmingly. “I’m being rude keeping you all to myself,” Balthazar said, taking a step to the side, to reveal his associate that was lingering in the background. “This is one of my associates, Logan.”</p> <p>As if being pulled out of a daydream, Logan snapped back to attention. Mechanically, the young man‘s face turned friendly, but it quickly faded when he noticed just who his boss was introducing. The woman was dressed to the nines and looked quite different from when they first met, but there was no doubt who she was. <span style="font-style:italic">Aw man, the nosey reporter.</span></p> <p>“Hi again,” Logan said politely, extending his hand.</p> <p>Alison blinked. Damn, but it was turning out to be a small world tonight. “Well, hello Logan,” she said, resting her hand in his for her light Lucinda version of a handshake. “You’re looking mostly recovered from the other night, thank goodness.”</p> <p>She turned to Balthazar, disengaging from Logan’s grip as she did so, and smiled coquettishly at the older man, in full Lucinda mode. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but Logan here is a bit of a hero. He helped fight off a group of thugs the other night.” </p> <p>Balthazar’s expression never faltered, despite the fact that his blood pressure had just risen a notch or two. Logan had recounted in detail the whole story and the wizard had not been too happy about it. Obviously it hadn’t been Logan’s fault, but still, attention like that was never a good thing. </p> <p>“Yes I know. Logan here is a real life super hero,” Balthazar chuckled. “You’re just missing the spandex outfit, aren’t you?” Logan blushed slightly, praying the conversation would take a turn and quick.</p> <p>“Anyways, enough about us. Tonight is all about you and your success!” Waving down a passing waiter, Balthazar grabbed three glasses of champagne which he distributed to Alison and Logan. “A toast to you, whose success in literature is only outshined by her radiant beauty.”</p> <p>Alison blushed and reacted as Lucinda, lowering her head and fluttering her eyelashes a little. The male punters always seemed to expect it and who was she to disappoint? “Well, aren’t you a charmer?” she said, taking a sip of the champagne. Pablo still hadn’t turned up with her drink, so this would do nicely in the meantime. </p> <p>“As for my demographic, you’d be surprised at the variety of people who read my books. I have a feeling this latest book in particular would have elements you enjoyed.” Alison’s smile never faltered for a moment, but she was definitely getting dirty old lech vibes off this guy. He’d definitely like the sex scenes, she was sure.</p> <p>The thing that had her puzzled was Logan’s role with Balthazar. At first she’d assumed the shape she’d seen behind the businessman was just a bodyguard. But one didn’t introduce their bodyguard to everyone. And the fact that it was Logan, who also seemed to know Pablo… there was some weird connection here. She just didn’t know what.</p> <p>“I guess you have a lot of different talents,” Logan said, cutting into the conversation. “I wouldn’t have expected a hard hitting reporter like yourself to also be a top author in supernatural fiction.”</p> <p>Balthazar did not miss the hidden meaning behind the young man’s comment. <span style="font-style:italic">You’re a clever boy, Logan.</span> If this was the reporter that had been interrogating his bodyguard after the events at Slàinte, it was not the wisest idea to stick around. The less anyone knew of the sorcerer’s connection to that fight the better.</p> <p>“Well, my dear, I know you must be very busy, and you don’t want to spend your evening talking to an old geezer like myself. Go enjoy the party - it is in your honour after all.”</p> <p>“Of course. It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Balthazar.” She nodded to his ‘bodyguard’. “Logan, good to see you again.” She backed away from the pair and weaved her way slowly through the throng, deep in thought. That was an incredibly abrupt dismissal, coming suspiciously close on the heels of Logan’s revelation of her as a reporter. Something was going on there, that was for sure. And she’d be damned if she didn’t work her butt off to find out what. </p> <p>“Hi, yes, lovely to meet you.” But first, she had a room full of people to schmooze.</p> </p> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3421#comments Author:Heather Author:Shaun Character:Alison Scruggs Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Logan Location:Graveyard Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:32:21 +0000 Heather 3421 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com 20:24 Balthazar and Jasmin http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3420 <p><p align="JUSTIFY"> As the party continued, Jasmin moved about with the practiced grace of one long experienced to hosting upscale events. The evening was going well, she thought. Nothing well and truly major had gone wrong, and as far as she could tell, she hadn&#39;t run in to anyone there to cause trouble. It left her making her way through the crowd with a Singpore Sling, highly alcoholic though it was and having less of an immediate effect. A slight frown crossed her face, though, at the newest arrival she found herself almost literally crashing in to, gone just as quickly.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> She forced a smile to her face as made out the familiar sight of Balthazar Romano and his new associate standing to the side. Putting on her best smile, she moved to put her free hand up on Balthazar&#39;s shoulder, moving to kiss each cheek lightly. &quot;Ah, Balthazar, such a pleasure to see you. Didn&#39;t realize you were on the list or I would have made it a point to come greet you, personally. How are you this evening?&quot; <i>And how many women have you tried to pick up so far?</i> she wondered.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Oh you know I hate to miss any A-list party&rdquo;. The older man took in the sight of the vampiress, decked out in her overly sexualized outfit. A grin crossed his face. &ldquo;You&lsquo;re so stunning, I think my heart might just stop,&rdquo; he purred, turning on the charm. &ldquo;Perhaps that was your plan all along; shame on you, trying to kill an old man.&rdquo;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> <i>You have to have a heart before I can make it stop.</i> &quot;Alas, you have uncovered my hidden agenda. As always, however, you have managed to survive my best attempts to do you in.&quot; She clears her throat slightly, taking a perhaps longer sip of her drink than she intended. &quot;I hope things are going well?&quot;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> Taking Jasmin&rsquo;s arm, the two began circling the room, Balthazar&rsquo;s bodyguard trailing a few steps back.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Things are well, for now,&rdquo; the sorcerer said cryptically. &ldquo;Great party by the way,&rdquo; he added, changing the subject, as he smiled and mouthed &lsquo;hello&rsquo; to some bossomy blonde across the dance floor. The girl giggled, waving back as she flashed a coquettish smile. &ldquo;Money and power, it&rsquo;s the best aphrodisiac,&rdquo; he whispered, into Jasmin&rsquo;s ear.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> Jasmin stopped and turned to him, with her thin smile. She knew he was like that, but the earlier ruining of her evening several nights before still grated. &quot;Yes, it is. Many young <i>women</i> have told me the same thing.&quot; Well for now. That hung in the air, along with their earlier discussion. Just what was he planning? &quot;I know you. You&#39;ve got something on your mind, and it&#39;s more than A Little Piece of Heaven.&quot;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;You&rsquo;re always so straight to business,&rdquo; he sighed, their arms still locked. Romano was about to speak, when he noticed a familiar face across the room. Balthazar scowled. &ldquo;Playing with fire are we?&rdquo; Jasmin followed his gaze to the Hispanic man at the bar, waiting for drinks to be delivered. From the look on her face, he knew she wasn&rsquo;t following. &ldquo;His name is Pablo Sandoval. He&rsquo;s a cop who specializes in cases dealing with people who run in our social circles. If I were you, I&rsquo;d be wondering exactly why he&rsquo;s here&rdquo;.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> Jasmin looked over at him, flashing a small smile. <i>Special Crimes Unit. Of course.</i> It was the way that her luck went. Still, she wasn&#39;t too concerned. It wasn&#39;t without the realm of possibility that something strange could happen at an event which was, in a sense, dedicated to the supernatural. Even when said dedication was to a romantic, highly inaccurate version of how things really were. &ldquo;Probably just a fan. You worry far too much for your own good some nights.&rdquo;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Well, there&rsquo;s something else, but we need to talk private. Especially with people like him, around&rdquo;.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Unless you haven&rsquo;t noticed, this is a bit of a busy night and I don&rsquo;t have time to&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> Balthazar interjected &ldquo;well if it&rsquo;s time we need,&rdquo; he huffed, catching Jasmin off guard as he grabbed her hand. The sorcerer began to mutter under his breath, weaving together the pieces of the spell which would offer them some privacy. &ldquo;Perhaps you now you&rsquo;ll be more willing to listen&rdquo;.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> Jasmin looked about the room again. Balthazar was still clear, but everything else seemed slowed down, blurry. Like looking through a glass. <i>I really hate it when he does that.</i> No matter how often he dropped the Cone of Silence, she would never get used to it. &quot;This is important if you&#39;re willing to risk this. What&#39;s going on?&quot;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;I need your help finding an artifact,&rdquo; he said, his face serious for the first time all night. &ldquo;We both know that you have the most comprehensive library in all of New York and I need some information which no one else seems to be able to provide. Of course,&quot; he added, the sly smirk once again emerging, &quot;If you help me, i&#39;ll be indebted.&quot;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-style: italic;">Most comprehensive in all of New York, now?</span> Now she definitely knew that he was up to something. Yes, she had a decent collection of general knowledge. But she knew damn well that her own collections could not hold a candle to the more <span style="font-style: italic;">specialized</span> occultists around. &ldquo;What are you looking for, Balthazar?&rdquo;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Whatever you can find on The Eye of St Vigeous&rdquo;. Balthazar seemed to waver, the exertion of the magic catching up on him. &ldquo;And this is time sensitive my dear. The quicker you can help me, the more I&#39;ll make it worth your while&rdquo;. The wizard hesitated a moment, considering if he should bring up the other topic that was weighing on his mind. <i>The </i><i>Drop</i>...Tabitha had mentioned Carmine had the object and that spelled trouble. <i>Let&#39;s just see how that plays out</i> he decided, not wanting to show all his cards to the crafty vampiress.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> The Eye of St. Vigeous. The name hung there, not because of what it was but because of part of the name. She knew in the vaguest sense who St. Vigeous was. Any artifact related to him, though, spelled trouble in the hands of a human. Especially among the older vampires, it would make him both a target and a person with leverage. &ldquo;I&#39;ll see what I can find,&rdquo; she said softly to him, mind already racing to recall details. &ldquo;No promises, though.&rdquo;</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> With that, the room came back into focus as he let the spell drop.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Now, that business is out of the way,&rdquo; he huffed, his breath coming a big heavy, &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s time to enjoy the party&rdquo;.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY"> &ldquo;Yes, it is,&rdquo; she spoke, staying locked into his arm for a few moments longer, as her mind considered the possibilities. Whatever he had gotten himself in to had to be bad for a meeting, and if that bad gave her bad publicity, he&#39;d pay. She was broken from her reverie, disengaging from him gratefully as someone else approached.</p> </p><table id="attachments" class="sticky-enabled"> <thead><tr><th>Attachment</th><th>Size</th> </tr></thead> <tbody> <tr class="odd"><td><a href="http://drupal.wildandbad.com/sites/default/files/jasminparty.jpg">jasminparty.jpg</a></td><td>138.87 KB</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> http://drupal.wildandbad.com/node/3420#comments Author:Kaarin Author:Shaun Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Jasmin Location:Graveyard Sun, 23 Jan 2011 01:20:16 +0000 Kaarin 3420 at http://drupal.wildandbad.com