Night's Omen

"If it's all the same, I'd also like to vacate the premises. I'm not really too keen on staying anywhere where someone just tried to, ah, eat my face off," he said, holding his hand up a little and making a face. He looked at Wesley, mostly, because he was waiting for what his friend was looking to do. Josh was a leader, but here it seemed like a lost cause, so he picked familiarity.

"Yes, I think we do," he said, glad that Nick had offered. He felt more and more relieved the longer he thought about it, and nodded. "The apartment is back this way. Aimee's waiting, I'm sure, with a frying pan by the door if I bring you back in with any scratches or bites on you, so please don't alarm her?" he asked Josh.

"Oh, you be my guest and go through that door first. She already ripped my leg out from underneath me, I'm scared to see how hard she can swing kitchen cookery," he muttered. He was too tired to be angry at this point. He just went along with them, walking in the front first, then falling back in step with Wesley and Nick. With all of the undead popping up, he didn't really feel like being too far ahead or behind, just in case.

Josh felt like a little girl. He hated it.

Nick nodded and smirked with Wes' agreement that they needed help, and went with them without question, just listening to them speak.  Aimee was mentioned again, which naturally made him wonder who she was.  He'd smelled leopard on Josh, and he said she ripped his leg out from underneath him, so that might make sense. 

"Is Aimee the leopard you both reek of?" he asked, and he didn't even mean it in a bad way.  Hell, he reeked of hyena, and he knew it and totally didn't care.  It was a scent he'd come to adore, compliments of Skye.  "Actually, why don't you fill me in on what the mess is before we get up to that apartment and the woman with the frying pans?"

He'd appreciate that, especially if he could potentially find himself being attacked with one of them, or if there might be vampires coming out of the woodworks after Wes' human friend.  If he was going to be bleeding for someone, he wanted to know why.

Wesley walked at a brisk pace, because he was eager to get back under cover. Drew being kidnapped by a vampire, and then Josh bolting out of the apartment and getting grabbed by one? It was coincidental in truth, but he didn't know that, and so he thought it best to get back to the apartment and out of the prying eyes of the outside world as fast as possible. While he walked, he gave Nick everything he knew, from beginning to end, including what he'd done to Melisande.

Josh had actually stopped in his tracks at that point, saying something to him about having no idea Aimee had been that serious. Wesley only gave him a sort of grim smile, and shrugged. "What else can I say? I acted, I reacted. You know who I am. I went for the quickest solution. Even Aimee agreed, we'd have talked ourselves around in a circle all night and come to the same conclusion." He shrugged. "It doesn't take away the... immorality of what I've done, but really, I'm not a man of many of those, so I'd like to say I did it for the best."

Josh had fallen back into silence after that, sulking in his own way. When they got to the apartment, Wes nodded to Nick. "I'll go in first. She's probably hoping to hit me, anyways." With that, he opened the door. "Ho-oney, I'm ho-ome," he said, though not loud enough to wake up Melisande and Drew, not that he could have if he tried. They were both out cold.

"I brought company, and no, Joshua is not a lion," he said firmly. It didn't matter. He heard the whiffing noise of a spatula right before it connected with his shoulder.

Well.  Wesley's explanation of the entire situation certainly put everything into perspective, and Nick couldn't say he completely disagreed with it all.  He made it clear that he was glad Wes didn't go off and make a whole pride of male lions, however, considering how stupid that would be.  He definitely didn't mind the female, but he was going to have to talk her out of making her boyfriend into a lion.  He didn't need to deal with that, especially once Jaime found out there were a zillion male lions running around all of a sudden.  Jaime would be likely to go Animal Planet on their asses, and there wouldn't be a whole lot Nick could do about it.  He was definitely in favor of the leopard infecting the other two if it was going to be done, and he said so.

Based on what Wes had said about Josh taking off like a little girl, Nick had to wonder what the guy's opinion was currently.  He'd seemed to be accepting of the wisdom of becoming a shifter after getting knocked around by the vampire, but now that he'd had time to recover and think things through, was he still?  He wasn't going to be a lion, Nick was set on that, but there was still Aimee.

Speaking of which, Nick didn't even SEE her until he heard the spatula impact Wes' shoulder.  THAT was impressive.

She honestly couldn't blame Josh for running, especially with how little choice he was getting in the matter, but that didn't mean she was pleased with it, nor was she okay with the way Wes had taken off after him.  She wasn't about to leave Melisande and Drew sleeping and alone at this point, and really?  If Josh got himself infected and blew his whole life up by pissing Wes off, she washed her hands of it.  She couldn't keep driving herself crazy trying to help him.

She'd just drive herself crazy worrying about what was going on in the meantime, and plot what she was going to do to Wes to satisfy her anger and frustration where he was concerned.

That was what lead her to the path of the Spatula Ninja.  It was a metal spatula, one that she was certain she could bend back into place if necessary, instead of breaking in the way that a plastic one would.  'Hoping' to hit him wasn't taking leopard speed and stealth into consideration.  She waited, and as he walked in with that cutesy little announcement, she struck, and she landed a solid hit to his shoulder.

"YOU ASS.  He'd better NOT be!" she told him, grabbing Josh by the arm and practically yanking him into the apartment so she could look him over and get a whiff of him.  "Why does he smell like vampire, and who's the other lion?"

Yeah, she hadn't missed that.

Nick actually busted out laughing at the female's reaction, pretty impressed with the first impression.  She was pretty, wasn't taking shit from the second biggest guy in the room, and totally manhandled Josh.  He liked her.  "You must be Aimee.  I'm Nick LeCroix, one of Wes' old friends.  I came upon your damsel in distress here getting tossed around like a rag doll," he explained easily.

"Fortunately, I chased the bad guy away, and saved the princess so that Wes could have his happy ending."  Ahh, he'd missed Wes.  He had a lot of jokes at his friend's expense to cram into a short period of time if he was going to make up for all he'd missed.

"DAMNIT WOMAN!" he thundered. He swatted at Aimee, knowing full good and well that she was already moving, so his hands impacted air as Aimee squirreled around him to yank Josh by the collar and smell him. He laughed at Joshua's surprised face as she did so, and shrugged when the man looked questioningly to him for answers. Wesley only offered a shrug at her demands.

"Seems like our reverse cat burglar here decided to take a promenade in the city by himself, and Nick had to round him up after he nearly became lunch." He turned his toothy grin towards Josh, as malicious as it was, and raised his brows. "So, you ready to be a leopard, yet, or do you want me to set you out in the dark again so you can have another go. By the way, for as strong as he was, the way Nick describes him vanishing makes me think he's young. That young could be days or years, but still... You think he was powerful, you need to meet some of the vampires that've been around for a few hundred years."

Joshua hung delicately in Aimee's grasp, trying to crane his head backwards and away as she sniffed him. She did look like a cat, then, and he wondered how previously he'd missed it with the way she moved. "That's Nick," he offered, when Wesley quieted down. "He's a friend of Wesley's. Actually, from the story I hear, he's who made Wesley a lion, so..." he trailed off.

Once he started to squirm, he felt the hand unclasp from the collar of his shirt, and he nearly fell backwards, stumbling and swatting at Aimee much like Wesley had previously. "A few weeks, did you say?" he asked. He stammered something unintelligible, and then sort of gave them the o.O stare for a few seconds.

"The ones who run the place you guys keep talking about... How old are they?" He shifted, taking a step back from the three cats to get some breathing room. Nick and Wesley standing in the front of Melisande's apartment made the room seem ridiculously tiny. Josh wasn't a small guy, but seriously. He ran his fingers through his short hair, and waited for responses, confident that he'd get them this time around.

Nick was actually pretty content to just stand around and pretend to blend in with the wall, which obviously wasn't happening.  He was used to it, but for the most part, his input wasn't required.  He'd give it where he felt like it, but he knew when to shut up and just pay attention to what was being said and done around him.  It was a good way to pick up valuable information.  "That vampire was young.  I kill older, stronger ones on a regular basis," he said firmly, very certain about that one.  The vampire had taken too long to vanish, suggesting to him that the kid wasn't used to being able to do it, and he hadn't been willing to fight for his dinner.  Most of them got an ego after awhile, and would have, or would have tried to take Josh with them.  That one had been young.

"Yeah, that wasn't intentional, just a bad situation with a lot of bleeding involved," Nick assured them all when Josh made mention of him being the one to make Wes a lion, and it was the truth.  He and Wes knew it.  Hell, he hadn't even KNOWN that Wes was a lion until today, but he couldn't really say he was surprised.  That was the closest to dying he'd ever gotten, and they'd both bled a lot.  Probably the only reason it hadn't occurred to him that Wes might have been infected sooner was that he hadn't been thinking too well at the time.  Other things stood out more in his mind regarding that situation.

It wasn't one he was going to dwell on, so Josh turning the conversation to Midnight was just fine with him, especially since he was about to be the bearer of bad news.  "Midnight is run by a very brutal, crazy bitch by the name of Jeshickah, and she's at least 800 years old.  She doesn't exactly make her age common knowledge.  I've heard rumors of some leeches in Mayhem that are over 2 and 3,000 years old, but nobody's been able to confirm that.  It's not like finding out a vamp's age is easy, and I don't imagine the ones that are that old are very open about it," he explained.  He almost felt bad for Josh, who'd just been attacked by a young vamp and thought it was impressive.  Now, he got to hear that the REAL threats were insanely old. 

Wes' yelling and swatting was useless, as expected, as was Josh's.  She didn't want to get swatted, and so she wasn't going to unless they got VERY lucky.  Not that it mattered anymore, since she'd gotten the information she'd wanted from her whiff of Josh, and now she was getting an explanation. 

Aimee nodded, taking in the information being given to her rather quickly.  Nick LeCroix, friend of Wesley's, actually the one who infected him.  That explained quite a bit about their dynamics, actually.  Nick walked in, said what he wanted and treated the situation like he'd been there from the start, and Wes didn't question it.  Considering what she knew of lions, she'd have expected more in the way of challenges out of them, but if Nick had been the one to infect Wes, not to mention information she probably wasn't getting about their past, that could explain why they didn't bicker or fight.  Still, it was something to see.

"Even the vampires who work at All Hallows are a century and older.  I think Marius is closer to three, but I'm not sure," she offered to what Nick had already said about Midnight and Mayhem.  "The younger vampires are more numerous, but there are enough running around with a little power behind them to be dangerous."

So, did all this mean that Josh was changing his mind?  She personally would have preferred calling someone she trusted in to scare him, but this situation hadn't gone so badly that she regretted it.  Josh seemed to have needed a scare.

"Eight-hundred?" Josh said, eyes wide with disbelief. When Nick continued that there were some said to be in the thousands, he just closed his mouth and let out a sigh through his nose that emphasized how displeased he was about the current state of affairs. "I don't understand. How do I live for this long and not know about any of this, or at least hear rumours?" he asked. He looked at Wesley, and the glance might have been accusatory, but it was hard to tell.

"And you," he said. Uh-oh, that was the sign that he was about to rant. "How many times have you done shit that Drew and I both asked you about, only for you to make up some bullshit excuse? Uh-huh, now it all makes sense. It's pretty fucked up that if we all got shot up in some crazy bank heist situation, Drew and I would stand a high chance of dying while you could just shake it off and walk away."

It wasn't hard to tell so much after that; Josh's temper was peaking. "This is so fucked up," he repeated two or three times, emphasizing different parts of the phrase each time. He laced his fingers on top of his head, and just... shrugged. He was seething. "I don't even know what to fucking say."

Wesley shifted his weight while Nick spoke, all the while nodding and agreeing; he noticed Aimee pretty much did the same. At least the three of them were all on the same page this time, instead of he and Aimee being in totally different books altogether.

When Joshua started throwing accusations around, though, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He took a step forward, putting a finger right in Josh's face, which he knew Josh hated more than anything else; more than dolls. He knew Josh hated being told what to do when it came to times when he was angry, and so it was the one tactic he used effectively and without regard for his friend's feelings, because what he'd said had clearly been over the line.

"You'd better watch it, Silvera," he snapped, that finger about an inch from his face. "You don't fucking know how I got this way to begin with. Did I ever tell you why I got discharged? No? Well, you're going to know, now. Nick and I were stationed overseas, not unlike you and Drew, except when I got two holes the sizes of baseballs blasted into my chest cavity, Nick was there to help me out. I got infected as a result, but he saved my ass, so don't you dare condescend to me about how my chances of survival are any better. A bullet that's well placed is going to do the same amount of damage, no matter what your target is."

He was radiating heat, and he felt that familiar sensation warming over him. It was sun, low drums and the soft scent of rolling grass. It started in his chest, constricting, and then worked its way outward, until his left hand had changed somehow. With a steady warning from Nick -- "Wesley." -- the beast inside of him backed down, and Wesley took his hand out of Josh's face and turned to pace into the living room, stomping heavily as he did so.

He turned finally, and just pointed again. "You have no fucking idea, so you shut your face. Don't you direct your misplaced anger at being out of the loop at me, because all I've ever done is tried to watch your back." There. He was done. He sat down on the couch with a big flop, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. Wesley was officially angry.

Aimee couldn't honestly say that she didn't feel horrible for Josh in this situation, but at least he hadn't learned through being grabbed like Drew had.  It could have been much worse for him.  Of course, his temper wasn't something she was entirely prepared for, either, so she was glad that it wasn't directed at her.  She wouldn't have taken it quietly if it was, but she still appreciated it.  People weren't always rational when they were angry, and she really hadn't done anything to deserve getting bitched at.

This was all between Wes and Josh, when it came down to it, and both Aimee and Nick kept quiet right up until Wes started getting scary.  That fight would NOT have been fair, and Aimee actually tensed up, prepared to jump in if she had to in order to keep Josh from being infected by lion.

As it turned out, Aimee didn't have to worry about jumping in, because Nick had it covered.  All he did was say Wes' name as far as everyone in the room could tell, but it was the subtle bits that mattered.  He hadn't moved forward much, but he'd taken a small step in the other lion's direction and he knew how to use his size to get the utmost intimidation factor in.  From there, it was the tone of his voice, firm and authoritative, as well as the slightest note of a growl underneath.  If Wes didn't stand down, he was going to force him to, and Wes didn't want that.  That was clear from his body language and that one word he'd spoken, and the look he got from Aimee alone made it obvious that he'd accomplished what he intended. 

The part of him that was all lion was satisfied with the respect he received, and he'd have been lying if the human part of his brain wasn't in agreement, but the problem with Nick getting aggressive and intimidating was that it made that lion want to play around.  He hadn't gotten to kill the vampire because he'd taken off, and now he wouldn't have minded a tussle, even if he knew it was inconvenient and completely against everything they were trying to do.  That was why he stayed put, and let Wes stomp over to the couch while he cocked an eyebrow up at Josh, as though daring him to keep egging Wes on. 

His stare was interrupted by his phone ringing, which still wouldn't have meant anything, except for who was calling.  He dropped a curse under his breath, aware that he hadn't called Skye to warn her that he'd gotten sidetracked, and turned away from the others slightly to answer it.

"Hey, baby, how're my two sweethearts doing?" he asked, his tone from before COMPLETELY doing a 180.  He paused, obviously listening to Skye on the other end, and the smile that crossed his features was completely out of place in the situation he was currently in.  "Give her a kiss for me, I'm running a little late.  I ran into a vamp and a buddy from the Service, and he's having some issues.  I'm gonna try to help him make sense out of this mess, and then I'll be home."

He hesitated again, listening, and though he was still laughing somewhat, he looked almost like he believed whatever she'd said.  "Don't you dare.  No, missing dinner does NOT mean that I'm on my own tonight!  Come on, baby, save me some!  Fine, yes.  I'll mow the lawn this weekend, promise.  Yeess, I'll do the dishes, too.  Skye!  Fine, pistachio it is.  There'll be dinner left when I get there?  Good.  Yeah, I'll bring Wes around sometime so you can meet him.  Alright, honey, I'll see you two soon.  Bye."

All that for some fish.  Damn. 

When he turned around, he didn't exactly have his intimidation factor back in place, especially given the conversation.  You really couldn't let everyone hear that, then look intensely scary within seconds.  It took some work.

The anger dissipated as Josh and Wesley exchanged glances over Nick's phonecall, and the sudden change of complete demeanor that the man did. No, there would definitely be no way that any scare tactic would work on either of them now, not without the promise of violence hanging closely by. Josh walked to the chair Wesley had inhabited before and sat down not quite so loudly, though he did turn it a little so that he could keep Aimee and Nick in his vision.

"So, the forty-thousand dollar question is, where do we go from here? Because the idea of having to swap blood with someone is kind of gross to me. It isn't that I mind seeing it, but the entire.. infected thing just brings to mind so many nasty ideas." He wrinkled his nose. It seemed like most of his temper had gone away, but that was how he and Wesley were. Separate them to their corners and give them time to cool off, and things were fine again. It was a good dynamic.

"And how am I going to know what to do when I am like one of you? Like, when do I shift? How long does this shit take to work?" He had about a million other questions, but there was no point in asking them all; they'd be there all night if he did. He looked at Aimee, specifically. "Are there any other leopards? I mean, do I like, hang with you guys until I have this figured out? Is this something you really figure out?"

They were perfectly valid questions, if not a little frustrating. Josh was stalling, obviously, but given the fact that his choice in the matter was suddenly gone, he'd like to be at the very least informed.

Aimee positively stared at Nick after the phone call finished, though she recovered fairly quickly.  Given what she'd seen of him, she wouldn't have ever pegged him for that easily pushed around by anyone, but his wife seemed to manage it.  At least, it had sounded like it was his wife.  She must have been quite the woman.

"What?" he demanded, looking from face to face as Josh and Wesley exchanged a funny look and Aimee stared at him for an instant, then he rolled his eyes.  "None of you are married, so I don't want to hear shit out of you."

He meant it.  Whenever Josh and Wes finally settled down, if they could find women that would tolerate them long enough, they'd see.  Wes and Aimee were already bickering almost like they were married, spatula included, so he had a few predictions where Wes' married life was concerned.  He'd definitely see.

Nick really didn't have anything to offer other than swapping blood, so he totally stepped over that question in favor of hitting the others.  "Don't worry, you'll know.  Wes said he infected the girl, Melisande you said her name was?  The infection's probably set in by now, so she'll feel about like she has the flu for awhile, and by the time she recovers, she'll be a lion."

Smiling at Nick's remark about marriage, Aimee pressed on to avoid anything else out of the guy.  It wasn't her business, even if she thought it was kind of cute how sweet he was to his wife.  She wondered if the woman knew how scary he could be when she wasn't around, though.  Probably, and if she were anything like Aimee, she'd have enjoyed knowing the effect she had.  Maybe if they all kept spending time around each other, she'd get to meet Nick's wife.  She thought she'd like that.

"Wellll, technically, swapping blood is how it works.  That doesn't mean we need to use caveman tactics like Wes did, though," she pointed out, giving Wes a 'look'.  "I'd have to stop at home and borrow some lab equipment, but I know I have syringes there.  All it would take would be a little injection, and it'd be done."

That was simple enough, right?  It was the rest that was going to be difficult.  Nick had the infection timeline figured out, which was good.  The two lions would have to help Josh out with that information, because Aimee had been born a leopard, so she didn't really know how long it would take.  Apparently, it took at least a week, since that was how long it took that boy Nero had healed to show marked improvement.  "I don't personally know any leopards outside my family, but I'm sure there are some.  I could help you get the hang of things, if you're worried about that," she offered, smiling in what she hoped would be a reassuring manner.  She didn't want him more nervous than he had to be.  "I'm sure you'll 'figure it out' fast enough, though.  I wouldn't worry about that."

Josh frowned. It sounded gross - and he wasn't squeamish, again, but still, the thought of shooting up someone else's blood was just.. disgusting. "Aimee, honestly, I think I'd rather you punched me in the face." He waited until Wes' high-pitched 'AHA' had been stifled, and when Joshua gave him a Look and felt satisfied he'd shut up for the moment, he looked back up at her.

"Really. I just can't shake the feeling that I'd feel like a guinea pig any other way."

How could you not expect Wesley to laugh at something like that? The notion that it had been exactly what he'd wanted to do the whole time came into play, of course, but he was tickled a fine shade of pink at the idea that Aimee had promised not to hit Josh, and now she might end up doing it after all. It deserved more laughter than he'd been able to choke out, silencing himself and turning away, his hand covering his mouth as he hid his wide smile.

He was thoroughly amused, and it showed.

"Shut up," Josh snapped, giving Wesley another scowl. "I'd rather be hit by her than you. You almost threw my jaw out of socket when you hit me before, thank God you hadn't meant to actually do it or I'd be in the hospital right now." Scowl, scowl, scowl.

Was he serious?!  All she'd gone through to keep Josh from getting beat on more than he had to, and now he'd prefer if she punched him?

...Fine.

She positively GLARED at Wes for his laughing, obviously aware of exactly why he was laughing like that, and she stormed off into the kitchen for a moment.  It occurred to her that it might have been a bad idea, since leaving the three men in the same room together without a female influence to keep them from regressing into cave men didn't appeal to her, but she didn't prefer to just beat something in order to draw blood as Wes had, and she had to be bleeding in order for a punch to do any good.  She ended up grabbing a small paring knife, keeping it out of sight as she returned, and she was quick about what she did.

A quick swipe of the blade over her knuckles, which hurt, mere steps to be up in Josh's face, and she hauled off and nailed him.  In the end, he probably even deserved it, and it had to hurt.  Not as much as Wes, and she'd still held back to avoid doing any serious damage, but she didn't hit like a girl.

Personally, Nick thought the guy was an idiot for telling Aimee to hit him, and that was simply because he knew better.  A quick prick of a syringe would be more comfortable than getting punched, and from Wes' reaction, there was apparently something he was missing about the idea of Aimee punching Josh.  Aimee further encouraged that belief in him when she glared at Wes and stormed off into the kitchen.

Nick thought she was pissed, and refusing to do it.  Boy, was HE wrong.

She was quick, especially since he didn't realized instantly what she was doing, but by the time he saw that blade and the blood, she was already knocking Josh senseless. 

"Oh, shit," he commented, just a little surprised by that turn of events, but he had to give her credit.  That looked like it hurt, and at least there wouldn't be anymore dancing around the subject.