Night's Omen

Katherine was going to put her Friday night to good use. O'Donnabhain had given her the Saturday she'd normally spend at her desk going over old notes more purpose - she'd assigned someone else to one of the cases she'd been working, leaving Kat some free time, so naturally, she did what anyone would do -

Went out and got hammered.

Between club hopping, she ended up at Ambrosia with a group of friends who'd all vanished as soon as they hit the door. It was typical of the drunk female crowd - each separate and hunt down prey, although in this club the game would soon be turned around on them. She was downing a drink at the bar when the urge to dance hit her, and to the floor she went, the drunk, feel-good state she was in only enhanced by the natural atmosphere of the club.

She wore an incredibly short skirt, black in colour, with a pair of impossibly high heels, and a simple black tank top that had silver sequins at the straps and around the bottom. Her long hair was down, and slightly damp from sweat - her light cheeks were flushed in her intoxicated state, but it only seemed to enhance her natural beauty. Heavily lined eyes closed as she left the floor again, ordering double shots for herself. She could barely feel her legs from the heels, but the warm sensation the alcohol brought her would be worth the pain later - she was so short that she needed them to give her more of an appeal, or so she thought. The alcohol was just a bonus painkiller for the moment.

Kat remained at the bar, forcing down a few more shots, and then chose to linger for a few songs to cool down.

Gabe wasn't oblivious.  It didn't take him more than five minutes to realize that Kat was in the club, and from that instant on, he was stalking her like a predator on a nice little bunny rabbit.  That was both awesome and horrible for her, since he wasn't going to let her end up food for another of the many vamps present, but HE was hunting, and she'd interrupted that without even knowing it.  He was definitely not in 'nerd cop' mode.  He was in an old mode, something that didn't belong in this century, and he couldn't even do anything about it.  He needed to feed, but leaving her to end up as food wasn't an option.

At least, he wasn't once he saw a young vampire approach her.  He might almost have left her to her own devices if he hadn't seen that.  No, he couldn't leave her.  That vampire would eat her, and then she'd be gone.  No, not happening.

He approached silently as the vampire tried to chat her up, able to tell just from her movements that she'd had too much to drink, and that was another point against her here.  This vamp might not be able to lure her off normally, but he wouldn't have as much problem right here.  Not without Gabe, anyway.  Gabriel certainly wasn't interested in that avenue, and he made it obvious as soon as he was close enough, letting his power aura spread out around them.  Other vampires glanced over, obviously seeing a fight brewing just from the obvious display, and Gabriel stepped up behind Kat, lacing an arm around her waist from behind and looking at the other vampire from over her shoulder. 

"You look lovely tonight," he told her, distracting her from the other man while he shot a single thought that way.

Mine.  Go away.

He'd fight for this one.

Kat was attempting conversation with the man who'd approached her, because she was drunk enough to be interested. He was attractive, after all, and Kat did need a little release after how difficult work had been. Everything he seemed to say to her was just right, like he was saying things she was thinking before she could think them. Of course, she didn't realize he could read her thoughts, so it was probably better when the familiar sensation of butterflies crept into her stomach and Gabriel's voice was so close to her ear that the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

She looked over at him, rubbing her cheek against his own, wide-eyed as she realized she wasn't imagining things. When she looked back, the man she'd been talking to was gone, and she blinked a few times before spinning around to face Gabriel. She had managed to keep his arm around her still, and she was quite close to him, though in the loud atmosphere it benefited her somewhat - as a human, even a police officer, her hearing was only so good.

"Hey!" she exclaimed in her drunken state. "What are you doing here? I didn't get the impression you were big on clubbin'!" she said, unable to hide her obvious pleasure and surprise. She still had those butterflies, but a few more shots, and they'd be gone.

All he cared about regarding the other vampire was that the man left, and he did.  He was too young to even consider taking Gabriel on over a human, and there was plenty of available prey.  Gabe won, and was left with his prize.

What a prize it was!

She rubbed her cheek against his almost like a cat as she turned, and he knew it wasn't intentional, but he didn't need the encouragement.  She was close, sooo close, and she wasn't making even the slightest attempt to get away from him.  Didn't she have any self-preservation instincts?

No, they were being overwhelmed by him.  It was his fault, he knew that, and he couldn't turn it off.  She wasn't going away, and did he really want her to?  No, not at all.  He wanted to---

What was he doing here?

Protecting her.

"Every now and then, I get out of the lab," he told her smoothly, not really able to pull together his usually cheery, jovial tone.  With as much as she'd had to drink, he could only hope she wouldn't notice.  "You didn't come alone, did you?"

Maybe if he left her with her friends, she'd be safe.  Maybe.  If her friends hadn't already been slowly broken off from the herd.

Kat did notice, and she stepped away so she could see more of him than just his chest - and what a nice chest it was - to tilt her head a little, staring at him with glazed eyes. She finally started laughing, and waved her hand. "Don't mind me, I'm just really drunk right now," she said, trying to explain her peculiar glance. "You should get out more often, Sullivan. You clean up rather well," she said, pinching his shirt a little and then smoothing it down.

Ahh, so... nice..Wow, I'm way too drunk for this. Hands off, Kat!

She quickly pulled her hands back, and leaned against the bar in a casual, slouched sort of position one can only pull off looking good in when they've had at least five shots of tequila. Speaking of which.

"Want a drink? I'm up for another round," she said cheerfully, turning to flash the tender a smile to let him know she was ready for more.

Normally, Gabe would have probably choked at her reaction, but right then, it was the sort of thing he'd been looking for, just not from her.  Never from her.  He'd just wanted to snag some pretty girl, get a snack and give her a good time, then go.  Kat wasn't someone he ever wanted to do that to, but he was short on options here.  He could leave her, or take her with him and just be really careful.

Aw, hell, nevermind.

No choice.  He'd just be careful, and try to keep her as innocent in the situation as he could.  "Thanks, and don't worry, I noticed, but it's okay.  I've probably had too much myself," he told her easily, though he definitely wasn't thinking alcohol.  He also couldn't really help stepping up to the bar beside her a little closer than he'd ever have in another situation, though he resisted letting his arm slide around her waist, even if he wanted to.  The bartender wasn't human, which was helpful and almost necessary in a place like this, and raised an eyebrow at him in question.  He merely smiled and nodded to let the guy know what he was drinking, and turned to Kat.

"What were you drinking?  It's on me."

"Tequila!" she said happily. "Tastes like crap, but it makes me feel sooo good," she explained, dissolving into giggles. "So, Gabriel," she said, before pausing as she realized his arm was around her - what was this? The hell? What is this shit? I must be really drunk - no, that's definitely his arm. Damn, I need to get him outside of the office more often.

"You stalking me?" she asked meaningfully, her eyes locked on his own. She laughed to let him know she was only kidding, but the staring contest had made her temporarily disoriented, and she immediately leaned into the support of his arm. As a human, she had small, insignificant natural defenses against things such as this, but in her highly intoxicated state, Katherine was wide open to all sorts of accidental attacks from vampires - like staring. She shook her head, and looked up at him.

"Whoa," she laughed. "I think some of my alcohol went down the wrong way. Don't worry, I'm not a puker. I get alcohol poisoning and they have to give me an IV, but I almost never puke. It's a gift," she bragged, a little slurred.

Tequila.  He found it absolutely AMAZING that she wasn't a puker if she drank Tequila, especially with the number of women who WERE.  It actually surprised him enough that he didn't react as strongly to her swooning over eye contact.  Great.  She looked him in the eyes and got all disoriented.  That was a good sign.

A good sign that he needed to stay the hell away from her.

He glanced around, actually considering it, and saw that younger vamp again.  Watching.  "No, but I think your friend from a few minutes ago is," he pointed out dryly, wondering if the ass was TRYING to force him into feeding from her, or just stubborn enough to hope that he'd leave her alone for a moment. 

A gift, right.  So was that absolutely intoxicating smell of hers.  And the fact that she HAD to be in such close contact with him.  He couldn't bear to push her away.  "That's good, because pretty girls really shouldn't spend their nights sick."  Or with dangerous men who pretend to be nerds.

Yeah...at least he knew. 

She obligingly dropped the final shot back, and turned her head to hiccup fiercly. Tequila was bad juju, and she was aware of the fact that she'd be paying for it the next day, but Gabriel's presence almost made it worth the pain she'd be feeling in roughly 8 hours. She made a note to start drinking water as soon as she got home - speaking of which, a quick scan of the club told her that everyone she'd come with was ensconced with other people, and she blinked, stunned that she'd been so easily forgotten. She giggled to herself instantly, realizing that she'd done the same thing to them. Taxi time it was.

Katherine glanced back at the guy who'd accosted her earlier, and felt a small shudder rush up her spine. Inexplicable; she had no idea why he'd suddenly given her such a creeped-out, uneasy feeling. Little did Kat know that the 'fuck off' energy he'd projected at Gabriel had caught her awash since she'd suddenly tuned herself in to the situation at hand. She turned back to Gabriel and did the only logical thing she could think of to appropriately shove the man off.

She kissed him. It wasn't an innocent sort of kiss, either, it was the kind she'd been saving for a moment where she didn't have to accept responsability for it later - unadulterated, violent almost, and yet, from Kat, strangely sensual. She wasn't bad at kissing, that was for sure. She nearly pinned him up against the bar, roughly, but was surprised to find he was slightly more sturdy than most of the people she'd come across. Kat had never tried to shove a vampire before, though, so there was part of the problem.

This was part of where they differed, besides the more obviously physical differences between a vampire and human.  He didn't think that his presence made her being sick as a dog the next day worth it, but she didn't have to work the following day, and that was probably best for her.  Yes, he was stalker enough that he knew her schedule. 

There went any chances of dropping her back with her friends, he realized rather suddenly with a short scan of her surface thoughts.  He was trying to avoid looking at more than th surface, just out of respect for her, but knowing those thoughts was useful enough here that he couldn't talk himself out of that much.  It meant he was going to have to stay around her, though.  He hadn't realized that she'd gotten enough of the other vampire's energy to feel creeped out by him, but he had certainly noticed, and returned the favor.  Naturally, he put more effort in keeping Kat unaffected by his own.

And then, she was kissing him, and to have surprised a vampire with that, she was pretty damn amazing.  Besides just that, she was kissing him in a way that utterly astonished him, particularly coming from her.  She'd always been so much more...careful.  Maybe 'innocent' was the best word for it.  He'd always been the sort to leave innocence where it belonged, well aware that he was no good for anyone or thing that could still be considered 'pure'.  Now, he felt horrible for what was going to happen, but he wasn't going to refuse her.

Nooooooo way was he.

He may have been taken off-guard enough that she managed to shove him against the bar, but he was a vampire, and one who'd always been pretty solid, and sure, she'd gotten enough time to fully molest his mouth before his brain had caught up with itself and pushed the guilt away.  Then, that was all.  His hands slipped around her waist to hold her close to him, and he pushed back into the kiss, albeit not nearly as aggressively as he wanted to.  He still had a certain set of teeth he'd prefer to keep from her, and he'd been remarkably successful before this evening.  When she found out about them, he fully intended to make sure she didn't remember.  In the meantime, though...

God...

She tasted amazing, but it was still her scent that wanted to drive him wild.  Her shampoo may have been helpful with that, but with as much as she'd been sweating while dancing, there was no longer any doubt in his mind that it was her that made him crazy. 

"You've been holding out on me," he finally teased when she took a moment to breathe.  "I'd have never seen that coming."

Kat seemed pleased with herself, more like a cat than anything suddenly, one hand on his where it rested at her waist, the other on his chest, palm down, now lacking the inhibitions she had a few moments ago. What the hell, why not? "Of course," she said, tone educational. "You know they'd never suspect me of any sort of activity like this, that's what makes it so fun. And besides, I'm not the only one who's holding out," she said, fingers walking up the center of his chest to his chin, where she tapped him lightly, tilting her head.

For a second, the sort of tone she had to her voice was alarming - as if she knew what he was - who he was - what he did, what the entire club was doing. Something sparkled in those dark eyes of hers as she laughed in her intoxicated state, the serious expression warming away from her girlish features. "And all this time, I thought you didn't like me," she purred. "That's what I get for thinking."

She did it again, staring him in the eyes - and suddenly the disorientation was so much worse than before. Her alcohol caught up with her at a fast pace, probably something to do with the sudden rush of blood to her.. brain. She didn't quite fall backwards as her knees sort of just dropped out from underneath her - if Gabriel hadn't been holding her up she'd have crumpled to the floor. Fingers tensed around his arms as she gripped to support herself fully.

"I think... I think I've had too much to drink," she said weakly.

That was the problem with drinking. She didn't do it nearly enough to know that she'd crossed her line about 3 drinks prior.

For a second there, he was actually worried.  It was just something there in her voice as she accused him of 'holding out' that made it seem as though she knew so much more than he'd thought she could, and then, just as quickly, it was gone with a girlish little laugh.  That sort of laugh was exactly what had made him stay away from her before, because she was so happy and innocent, and he couldn't do a damn bit of good for her, but it was too late for that now. 

He resisted the urge to do something that may egg her on even further as her fingers made their way from his chest to his chin, though it was tempting.  She really didn't need the encouragement, and just as he'd considered it, she mentioned thinking he didn't like her and made eye contact. 

Really, he wasn't doing it on purpose!  Eye contact normally wasn't such a big deal, but he HAD come to hunt, and so he'd let himself slip some.  Now, he didn't have the slightest chance of withdrawing it, and she was falling victim to the one part about himself he couldn't do anything about.  With as much alcohol as she had swimming through her, he wasn't surprised that it was disorienting her, and he caught her easily to prevent her from falling.  He was getting looks from the bartender, who was clearly telling him to 'take his dinner elsewhere', and he shot the guy a look, but helped her to her feet.

"Come on, Kat, I'll take you home," he promised, though it occurred to him that he really shouldn't know where she lived.  He could probably pull it from her mind, if she could concentrate.  Getting her to tell him would be helpful for later, though.  "Where do you live?"

She told him her address after a few tries, and took to leaning on him solely for support. She wondered if this was what trees felt like when they were little, having to be tied to a pole so they didn't grow sideways. She sat up a little, wondering why the fuck she was thinking about trees, poles, and god knows what else, when Gabriel Sullivan, the cute guy in forensics she'd been eyeing, was taking her home. She was having trouble walking - shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

JESUS, it's freakin' hot outside, she thought to herself, her only complete coherent thought for the span it took them to get to her apartment. She wiggled around in his car, objecting to the seatbelt for a good five minutes of coaxing before she felt compelled to put it in suddenly, and then stared out the window, amazed at everything they passed.

When they got to her apartment, she was having serious trouble trying to get her seatbelt off, and started whining. "Damnit, I'm stuck!" But, of course, by the time Gabriel could get around, she'd gotten it off and hopped out, perked up considerably, and was leaning against the door, giving him that look again. "Wanna play Twister?" she blurted out, swinging the keys of her apartment around her finger lazily. "And before you say anything, I know, I'm drunk, I'm not thinking clearly, blah blah blah..." she made talking motions with her hand, smiling at him.

It was a bad sign how many tries to took to get her address out of her, and her thoughts were so jumbled that he had trouble putting it together even reading her mind.  Wooooow, she'd had too much to drink.  He was suddenly wondering if drinking her blood would be a bad idea.  He'd never had blood that was THAT flooded with liquor before, and he knew he could get a pretty damn good buzz from someone who was drinking. 

He got other wisps of thought from her while he was trying to get her into a seatbelt and to her apartment, though the most clear was the fact that she thought it was hot outside.  Otherwise, he caught things about work, cute, himself and plenty of unrelated things that really made no sense to him.  He withdrew completely from her thoughts, much preferring not to confuse himself any further trying to make sense out of any of it. 

Really, it hadn't taken him long to come help her with the seatbelt, but her helplessness vanished quickly in the face of her success, and suddenly...what?  Twister?!  He'd had to HELP her to the car!  "Let's see how well you make it up to your apartment first."

In all honesty, he'd never played that game.  He'd watched others do it and laughed, but never sacrificed his own dignity on that altar.  He wasn't looking forward to potentially doing it, either.  Hopefully, she'd have forgotten by the time they got her up to her apartment.  "Lead the way."

"Yep, leading!" she shouted. She grabbed his hand and practically flung herself at the apartment stairwell, running up with a wobble only owned by those who have had way, way too much to drink. She let go of him as she stumbled up the stairs (and she would have taken the elevator under normal, less intoxicated circumstances, but that would lead to puking in this state) and bounded to her door. She fumbled with her keys for a good few seconds before she found the one that would open the door, and then kicked it open and pranced in.

As soon as she got in, she turned, whipped off her shirt, and said quite clearly, "Come here. I know I'm drunk and I don't care, just... come here." And with that, she pounced on him.