Night's Omen

It was that time again, when the sun went down and the club really began to move. Nikolas didn't wear a watch, and he didn't need to. Usually right around eleven sharp was when the club suddenly went from humming to packed, and sitting in the back with Eden for a brief interlude would come to an end as he walked to the counter, putting a pale hand atop it and springing over. He landed with no sound, though it mattered little - between the beat of the music and the voices in the crowd, he wouldn't have been heard anyways.

Garbed in his usual attire of black leather pants and, surprisingly, a shirt (black, button down, but totally open exposing his pallid and well-formed chest) he began taking orders. He served as fast as they came, and the mortals that crowded around the bar marveled at how quickly he was able to push drinks. The Nyeusi all knew that he was tapping into the reflexiveness of his Azteka blood, but it was an amusing thing to watch, nonetheless.

He turned his black eyes on the stage for a moment as Eve sashayed on, and smiled a little. She was one of his favourites to watch - not because he was attracted to her, but because she made the dancing an artform. He called another tender over and rested his elbows on the bar, lifting his chin a little to see over the gathering.

Persephone was on the loose again. She'd been let out for the long weekend, and had promised to bring Jeshickah back something worth telling her. So far, she hadn't seen anything good enough to report, but she was sure she would sooner or later. She thrust hands into the back pockets of her low-rise jeans and rolled her head so that strands of her dirty blonde and brown hair swept out of her chartreuse eyes. She wore a simple black tanktop, with a bared midriff and spaghetti straps. Her toned, slender form was noticed but easily overlooked in the club.

As she walked through the door, a strange scent caught her. She looked over to the bar, zeroing in on the tender. She bit her lower lip lightly, bright green eyes narrowing as she tried to determine what it was about him that seemed so... He was utterly engrossed in a happy stare at the woman on stage, and Persephone merely turned her head half-way before turning back. A vampire was nothing for her to stare at. She made her way to the bar, easing through the crowd.

Persephone was up to no good.

London had a perfectly good reason for being in All Hallows, and it wasn't because he wanted to sit there and stare at gorgeous half-naked women, though that was a definite plus.  He was watching for someone who was supposed to be a regular at this place, and the bar was a great place to start.  He was off-duty, technically, so there really wasn't anyone who could say anything to him about it, since All Hallows seemed to have some sort of agreement with the Mojo Lounge for that shit.  He'd never had anything like it except at that voodoo man's place, but here it was.

Of course, he'd noticed that the bartender smelled of jaguar, but he'd ALSO noticed that the man was a vampire, and he knew the difference.  Besides, his own son was a jaguar, and that didn't do anything for him.  He just wasn't impressed.  He was more interested in one of the men sitting down by the stage, watching Eve. 

That would be his target, as soon as the man moved to leave. 

Persephone was about to zero in on the pale Azteka behind the bar when something else caught her nose - something more distinct and profound. She lifted her chin a little, nosing the air to hunt down the delicious smell. It was Jaguar, that's what it was. She hooked a finger thoughtfully into her belt loop and took a relaxed position, a small smile creeping onto her face. As soon as the obstruction that had been in her view moved, London's profile was seen. She couldn't decide what she wanted to do suddenly - the bartender was deliciously curious, but he didn't quite pique her interest like the sudden new Azteka had.

All in an instant, Persephone made her leap. Still in human form, she flung herself at London. This was, by definition, playing, but it never occurred to her that nobody else might see it that way.

Naturally, why would he be paying attention to some girl who'd walked in?  Her scent didn't get blown his way, the stage and his target were more interesting, and he had a perfectly good drink in his hand.  He was perfectly content to just sit there for the time being, and that was exactly what he intended to do.

It wasn't what he was ALLOWED to do, though.

He didn't even see her coming until she'd absolutely SMACKED into him, and his drink went airborne as the pair went down.  It was already embarrassing that he hadn't seen her coming, but he was still a jaguar.  He may have hit the ground hard, but he rolled and grabbed his attacker, prepared to beat some serious ass right up until he realized it was a woman.  Now, anyone who really knows anything about London knows that he doesn't have a problem beating on a woman, but that isn't usually something he does in public, and he really just doesn't get ATTACKED by them in public.  The fact that he suddenly had her scent flooding his nostrils didn't help, and he stared at her with wide eyes, at war within himself as to what to do.  He could shove her off and be pissed that she'd just attacked him like that, certainly, but there were other options.  These just weren't options he regularly humored.

London wasn't one of those men that lost control all that often, especially as far as shifters went.  That didn't mean he didn't HAVE those instincts, though.  He was a born shifter, so it was all there, just more squashed than with some people. 

Squashing them won out, though it wasn't quite like usual.  His cat was awake, and though he didn't like that fact, there wasn't much he could do about it.  He pushed her off of him and jumped up to his feet, but his eyes never left her.  Now what?

Persephone managed to make contact! She stared down at him, wide-eyed and almost amazed, until the bigger cat displayed anger, and shoved him off of her. She stood as quickly as he did, still inside his personal space. She could smell his anger, and she couldn't fathom why he was so angry. She side-stepped any attempt he made to try and move, blocking his path. Thankfully, Nikolas hadn't called the attention of the bouncers, nor had he gotten himself involved, but the tension between the two cats would illicit his attentions soon enough.

"Wanna play?" she asked. She produced the aluminum foil ball wrapped around catnip and held it between two fingers, near his nose. As she did so, she stepped in to smell him more closely - alcohol, other Azteka, humans... gunpowder, another vampire she recognized faintly, raven... Some scents she didn't recognize, but most of them she could place from one area or another. She herself smelled mostly of Midnight and Azteka, but he might have been around Cynthia enough to recognize it.

Normally, London took notice of what he smelled, and mostly dismissed it.  His sense of smell didn't rule his world like it might a wolf or someone who was especially in-tune with their animal.  There were scents on her that he recognized, though he didn't exactly recognize where he'd smelled them, and naturally, there was jaguar.  Jaguar.  Female jaguar.  He'd never seen one before.

She wasn't letting him move, either.  Every time he tried to put some space between them, she was on him again, and he may have been larger and stronger, but she was quick.  What the HELL did she want, and what the...what the fuck was that ball?  Why did it smell so good?  It was just a ball!

He unconsciously tilted his head to get a better whiff of whatever it was that made the ball seem so appealing, but his eyes didn't stay on the little foil monstrosity.  They flicked from the ball to her and back again, the gray threatening to swirl into the yellow-green that belonged to the cat.  They were 'threatening' only because he was trying to keep a grip on himself, even if he could practically feel the jaguar that he really was stretching and pushing at the back of his mind. 

"What?" he demanded, slightly distractedly, trying to blink back the issues he was having, particularly the smooth, calming feeling that the alcohol he'd consumed was trying to wash through him.  That wouldn't help him, he knew that, but it was too late to worry about it right then.  He may not have known it, but his eyes were slowly showing the battle that he was losing.  "Play?"

Persephone only smiled at his conflict, not understanding why he'd even want to fight it. "Yeah," she said simply, as though he should have known that 'play' was an obvious thing to respond 'yes' to. She may as well have said 'duh' to him, a small eye roll on her part pretty much clearing the hedge of question to that feeling.

When Nikki saw the ball, all thats topped his eyes from burning into amber as they would have years ago was the calm he'd learned from his Kendra blood. He reached out and snatched the ball from Persephone before she could throw it, thank god. He did not need a dozen feline shifters going crazy. Luckily the catnip didn't bother him as much as it would have before, but he still quickly thrust it under the counter before he was even tempted.

"Not today, princess," he said sadly to her. He didn't quite turn his back on her, but instead quarter turned, so that he could still see her without glaring at her.

Persephone looked from him to London, and then back. She was furious. That was HER ball.

He was conflicted, that much was obvious, but the real fight was inside his head.  He was WAY too dignified to care about a ball, but there was that part of him that didn't care about his dignity in quite the same way.  Cats were dignified, but they would attack a ball.  London disagreed on that.

Fortunately, so did Nikki.  Could the vampire see the relief for the instant that it was visible on his face when the ball vanished?  He hoped not.

"This is ridiculous," he snapped, reaching into his pocket to pull out some cash, leaving more than a decent tip for the bartender that had essentially just saved him from making a big mistake, and shooting a glare at Persephone.  Freakish girl.

Then, he was done.  Moving on, away from HER and the bar, and watching his target from a safer location.

Persephone snapped at him as he went by, but said nothing more, plunking her lithe form down onto a barstool and giving Nikki a dark look. He smelled of cat and of vampire, and it frustrated her to know that she could not provoke his feline side so easily as she could others -- like Darren, actually. She wondered where the leopard was.

"So Princess, were you just here to taunt my feline clientèle with alfoil balls, or did you have something in mind?" Nikki asked playfully, leaning on the counter to stare directly into her bright green eyes. He smiled at her, teeth vampire but grin feline.

Persephone tilted her head at him, still undecided of what she wanted to do. She looked back at London, and then back to him, resting her head on her folded arms against the cool countertop. "No, I wasn't taunting. You took my toy away though, so now I guess I'll just sit here."

It was as if he was there on cue, and he was, but not for Persephone.  Darren was NOT a regular customer, though he got through the bouncer at the front doors really easily.  He wasn't exactly carrying mass numbers of weapons or underage.  Paris had sent him ahead to scope the women on stage out, which pretty much amazed him.  It wasn't like they were officially dating, but they messed around, and women didn't tend to send you to look at other women for them.  It gave him two thoughts.  Either she was trying to get him to go away and find another girl to bother with, which didn't seem right, or she might actually care about how many hot women were in the club, which gave him nice images.

Very nice images.

So, he was there, 'scoping out the women' for his sometimes sex-buddy, and rather enjoying it while he was at it.  The woman on stage was HOT, and she was doing things that he'd never actually seen a woman do in front of other people.  Very impressive, and very nice to look at.  Obviously, he wasn't paying much attention to the bar, or his surroundings, and he was perfectly happy finding a seat where Paris could eventually join him, and just watching for awhile.

Persephone almost didn't even notice Darren coming up beside her, because Nikolas had given her a straw to chew on, which she did quite happily. She rolled her yellow-green eyes up finally, and widened them in surprise. "Oh, hey!" she exclaimed. No doubt Darren would be surprised to find her here. "I was out walking around when I decided to come in and have a look around. I found another jaguar," she said, pleased with herself. "But," she added, "he took my ball."

Why Persephone hadn't gone over the counter after it was anyone's guess - perhaps she had learned a little bit about 'domestication' in her journeys outside Midnight's gates, though don't be mistaken - she was every bit as wild as before. Now she just exhibited signs of knowing some vague sense of social right and wrong. She wouldn't hesitate to mow those newly-learned 'rules' over if the sensation to do so tugged hard enough. She was still an animal at heart.

"That I did," he acknowledged, giving her another straw and prying the chewed up one out of her teeth as she braced herself on the counter like a dog, playing tug of war with him. Nikolas was stronger than she was in the end, and she almost fell out of her stool - she probably would have if she was a human, actually, but her balance was a natural gift, and so she remained perched, indignant once again that the barkeep had bested her. It was a comical sight to see him jam another straw at her face, only for her to nearly bite his hand taking it, immediately knotting it up and beginning to gnaw on it. Like a cat.

"Nikolas," he said, to Darren. He recognized the cat for what he was, but didn't place him with the Hollow just yet. He'd never been in there, so he wouldn't have known that much. "What can I get for you?" he asked.