Night's Omen

Kenzie sat on the arm of the couch in the lounge area of Onyx, studying her nails. She'd painted them aqua, and she was still trying to decide if she liked it or not. Lazily, she tossed back her long blonde hair and looked up, green eyes scanning the windows of what she could see into the outside parking lot. Zaine's car still wasn't there, and she sighed a little. Connor was going to figure out sooner or later who she'd set her next sights on, and she was trying to mark her proverbial territory before he could intercept her.

  At once, the other door banged open, and she glanced up. Zaine himself walked through with an extremely agitated Holly at his side. Kenzie half-smiled; if anyone could make him sweat, it would be Holly. Ever since she'd become a bird, she'd been twice the bitch, and Kenzie enjoyed watching her in action. Currently she was threatening him with Leo, but all it took was one hard stare from Zaine before she uttered a long string of swears and called him a "slithery bastard". She slammed the door adjacent to Kenzie and stormed out into the parking lot, neon pink hair trailing behind her.

  Zaine seemed... unphased. He glanced over at Kenzie for a second, and she flashed him a bright smile. Here we go. Operation: Mamba Mambo is now in efFFFFUUUUUUUU. As she slid off of the couch and made her approach, her view of the deliciously dark Serpiente was blocked by....

  "Polly want to GTF out my way?" she snapped.

Frankly, he couldn't believe he was even doing this, and he really couldn't believe he was being PAID to do this.  It was excellent, even if it involved being in the same room as Zaine for a few moments.  The two had already confirmed the fact that parrots and snakes just didn't mix, and Rafael thought it was utter bullshit, but it was instinct.  He absolutely froze up during anything resembling a staring contest with that asshole snake, and he knew it was intentional on Zaine's part.  How?  Because Rafael made eye contact with Lucien, of all people, every time they talked.  If a cobra didn't have that effect, then there was no way in hell it was an accident.  He had no doubt that Lucien could make someone (even someone who wasn't a parrot, or a bird) freeze up, but the man had never done it to him.  He figured it was something the snake king reserved for when it was necessary, and Zaine didn't. 

Powertripping asshole. 

It was a pleasure to be paid to distract Kenzie from the mamba, and he usually liked the girl enough that he could even ignore the 'polly' joke.  It was one of his peeves, but it was probably one of her peeves to lose her intended target like that, so he could excuse it.  This time.

"Why?  What's so interesting over there?" he asked, his eyes deliberately glossing over Zaine as though the man weren't there.  With luck, the guy would leave and Kenzie would be left without an excuse to follow him. 

  Kenzie dipped to the left to see if Zaine was still in the hall - she caught a glimpse of him checking his phone, but then Rafael just hedged up and blocked her view again. She moved right as quickly as possible, but now the parrot was holding his arms out like they were playing basketball. Kenzie was smoldering with rage. Instead of screeching at him and attacking him like she wanted to, she flipped her hair and smiled broadly. "OH MY GOD, YOU'RE GAY?" she said loudly, stepping back and looking surprised.

  From the sudden drop of his arms, Kenzie could clearly see Zaine glance up at them. He smiled - he smiled at her. Kenzie shrugged a little with her self-satisfied grin, shooting him a wink back. Then Rafael was up in her business again, and Zaine was gone - probably to go do actual work. Kenzie glared up at him, resisting the urge to stomp down on his instep. Even if he was a shapeshifter, that bone would break, and she'd have loved to do it.

  "What is your problem, asshole?" she shot at him. Kenzie was normally a fairly sweet girl, and even flirtatious with Rafael when it suited her purpose, but right now he was blocking her from her prey, and that didn't sit well with her. She, of course, didn't know Rafael hated Zaine, and she certainly didn't know that the idea of him being the prey of her would be incredibly laughable to the parrot.

  "Why are you all up in my space? Are you jealous or something?" No, Kenzie could be pretty snotty when she wanted to. Of course, Rafael had also seen her enough to know that in five minutes, she wouldn't be. Riding out the storm was just one of the many perks of being in her company and being a male.

Wow.  Just, wow.

He'd gone from trying to block her, mostly amused with the situation, to dropping his arms rather suddenly when she blurted that.  Because, yes, that had been totally necessary.  He could already see the wrong person hearing that, and suddenly there would be rumors running all over the place about him being gay.  Considering he was about as flashy as Onyx could get, it wasn't like his reputation needed the 'help'.  Of course, Kenzie wasn't asking, and it just confirmed the fact that she was into Zaine now.  Connor would pay for that information, since Rafael had just been paid to occupy her and keep her away from the male hunters.  To tell her brother who she had her eye on?  Yeah, he could get some cash out of that one.

He'd have to do it soon, though.  She had a short attention span where men were concerned, and that was why Rafael did his little bit of flirting with her, but never really cared if he had all of her attention.  NOT having all of her attention whenever he was in the room was actually a much better thing.  Of course, it also meant that she made gay jokes just to piss him off.

"My problem?  Oh, you mean besides the 'ohemgeegay' announcement and the polly jokes?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow up, then snorting as she asked if he was jealous.  "Not likely.  I'm not a fan of snakes, and I go to jail if I take a liking to you, so jealousy really just doesn't enter the picture.  Why don't we go get ice cream or something, pretend you're a normal teenager, and you can look at all the boys that you could be focusing on instead of that world-class asshole?"

Yeah, because watching her tongue an ice cream cone was going to be really comfortable, but he knew it to be a good method of pushing her along.  If she dwelled on Zaine the rest of the afternoon, she might get creative.

"Pft, high school boys are stupid," she said, flittering her fingers in the air. She smiled at Rafael, that twinkle in her eye, and reached up to straighten the collar of his white shirt. "Now, why would you call him a world class asshole? You two don't play nice together?" she asked, her voice sweet. Kenzie knew how to make people uncomfortable, that was certain. She'd stepped right into Rafael's person space; he'd either back up until he had nowhere else to go, or he'd stand there and Kenzie would be practically on top of him.

  She absently cleared some of her hair away, still holding onto his shirt - lightly, not like she was yanking on it. She'd just anchored herself to it for the moment; Rafael would see why when she tugged lightly - from the angle she'd had him, she pulled his upper-body over and forward, like she was bending him a little without yanking him down violently.

  "You shouldn't talk about my future ex-husband that way. If it makes you feel any better, he can be five and you can be four," she said glibly.

He rolled his eyes when she said that high school boys were stupid, but it wasn't like he was going to argue with her.  He agreed, but he also thought that Little Miss Flirt Machine was pretty ridiculous herself, so he figured they were about even.  Besides, high school boys were less trouble than hunters, and she always seemed to set her eyes on hunters.

Personally, he thought it was up in the air whether she was more trouble herself than other hunters, but the answer to that really depended on who you asked.  Connor would say that she was much more trouble.  Other hunters might prefer the cute little blonde, and Rafael had to admit that it depended on his mood.  There were days when he'd rather spar with another pissed off hunter rather than deal with Kenzie's comments and flirting, and then there were days that it didn't bother him in the slightest.  Frankly, his evenings with Tristina helped put him in the latter state, since Kenzie could be incredibly frustrating if you were already prone to frustration. 

Take Rafael's current predicament, for example.  The way she took hold of his collar and entered his personal space, he could either try to retreat, cause a scene (or both), or stay right where he was.  He opted for the latter because he was entirely capable of pretending that it didn't matter to him in the least, and that helped, considering what she said.  He knew better than to take anything like that leaving her mouth at face value, since she was really all talk, but it was a bit funny just to hear it.  Fourth.  Him first, then Zaine.  Well, it was good to know where he ranked, at least.

"Really?  And who would take up one, two and three?" he asked, just humoring her this time.  Rather than getting upset or indignant, he'd learned to just take it in stride.  If she found out it hit a nerve, she'd keep doing it.

 "Hm," Kenzie said with her lips crooked to a smirk. There it was, that self-satisfied grin again. "Well," she began, tilting her head and visibly scoping her mental inventory of men. She let go of Rafael and turned, holding up a finger. "First has to be Xander. He's so big and scary. Can you even imagine what he'd be like in bed?" she asked. She laughed at Rafael's horrified facial expression: nobody could ever consider the surly wolf "doable", at least not the hunters anyways, once they'd seen him crush a turnover's head into the ground with his booted foot. Have you ever seen a skull crushed? It's disgusting. And this was a man considered particularly good at it.

  "Second... well, I was definitely thinking of Adam - the Frost hunter? God, he's got a sister complex, though, it kind of weirds me out, but I guess it could be a little kinky, too." She grinned broadly at Rafael, who was now trying to remain perfectly neutral to what she was saying. It was so obvious.

  She sat down on the back of the couch, crossing her legs. Luckily she was wearing shorts today, and however short they were, they were still shorts. She tapped her white tennis shoes against the back of the couch and looked to be in deep thought for a moment. "I haven't decided about the third. I think I'll leave that spot open in case I want to move someone around."

  She grinned at him. "You can be third, but only if you're very, very good."

The fact that he was even having this conversation with a 17-year old was bad enough, but that she actually had answers only made it worse.  Then, she told him, and he wanted to gag right there.  Xander?  Really?

"Wow, you just hit on something that nobody in any of the guilds wants to imagine, straight out of the gate," he told her, feeling as though his thoughts were tainted just at the initial association with Xander and sex.  It wasn't that he couldn't imagine Xander in bed, but that he'd never, ever wanted to.  Despite her teasing of a moment before, he wasn't anything near gay, and then there was just taking into consideration the things he'd seen Xander do.  Every hunter was dangerous, but Xander was just gross, and he took way too much enjoyment out of making skulls pop under his boots.  Adam was acceptable and even Zaine could be excused, even if Rafael thought she was insane for it, but not Xander.

Xander was someone that, if Rafael ever caught wind of the guy ever having sex, he had a feeling nobody would be in a rush to go after his exes.  To the macaw's knowledge, Xander didn't have any ex-girlfriends.  He had Abby, who Rafael didn't really think was a girlfriend, and that was about all he knew about.  "If you're going for Xander first, you might not have to worry about two, three or four.  I don't think there's anyone in the guilds that would want Xander's seconds, personally.  You don't know him the way we do."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the honest truth.  Kenzie could joke and flirt all she wanted, but she really didn't know at the end of the day.  That was one of the reasons that Connor didn't want her chasing hunters, because she didn't know.  She didn't understand.

 Kenzie smiled at Rafael, obviously unphased by the tone he'd taken with her. He'd stopped playing the game suddenly, which meant Kenzie had struck a nerve. Who knew if what she said about Xander was true, honestly? Kenzie was seventeen, the truth was only what she could sell you with a smile and a kiss. Her smile grew and her nose even scrunched a little, then she placed her chin in her hand and sank forward to rest her elbow on the knee of her right leg, which was crossed over her left.

  "I read files," she said. "You're not a saint either. Not as brutal, but you're no angel," she reminded him, though Rafael probably didn't need reminding. Kenzie could recite in great detail the history of anyone whose file she'd gained access to, however she'd done it - fortunately, she didn't manage to get a hold of very many before Connor changed all his passwords and Kenzie-proofed his computer, at least for a while longer. Whether she'd seen the file of the particular wolf in question, she didn't say; she simply indicated to Rafael that she had read things he might not be proud of when he was up on the chopping block.

  "Besides, you're forgetting one thing," she said, holding up her hand. "I wouldn't be his sloppy second - he'd be mine," she said, her eyes narrowed. No, Kenzie definitely wouldn't tolerate being referred to as anything but number one, and she'd do some pretty stupid and dangerous shit to remind people of it. It was always best to play along when she started that game, because going around that ring of fire was bound to end badly.

  She hopped off of the couch and breezed right past Rafael, at any rate. "I wonder where Zaine went?" she said aloud, already walking towards the hall he'd gone down. It was a good thing she didn't know Connor had actually paid Rafael to watch her, or else she'd have been hauling ass instead of casually walking. As it stood, she had no idea; she figured Rafael would only annoy her as long as she hung around, and if she just wandered off, he'd go find something less important to go do.

It was actually rather surprising that she could smile at him and be so pleasant, then point out that he wasn't a saint, as though it were absolutely nothing.  No, he wasn't a saint at all.  She was right when she said he wasn't as brutal, though that could be guessed just from their individual demeanors, but it was possible that she'd read their files.  If she had, she was foolish to just brush it all off.  No hunter was an angel or a saint, but when she heard other hunters refer to one as being brutal, she really needed to take heed. 

He had to wonder if she'd gotten into her brother and sister's files, now that he thought about it.  They were Crimson and more subtle, but there had to be interesting information in there, especially with the injuries her brother had endured.  He had the feeling, even if he hadn't been present for much of it, that Kenzie hadn't been filled in on much of the details of those situations.  She was ridiculously naive about just how scary the world around her could be.

That was precisely why he wasn't even going to argue with her about it.  Claiming that Xander would be HER sloppy second was just further proof, to him anyway, that she was just spouting ego all over the place, and that was fine.  He could only try to disillusion her so much.

"I definitely remember ice cream and you pretending to be a normal teenager having come up just a few minutes ago," he pointed out, following after her as she got up to wander after Zaine.  "Neither of those things involves him."

  Kenzie peered around the corner of the hall with the upper half of her body, like she was being sneaky. She turned back to Rafael and smiled broadly. "But they could, you know. I definitely have seen things on the internet that suggest ice cream and the things that go with it could be used in ways they were never intended. He'd make a good test subject," she said. She turned and looked back down the hall, her vision clouded by complete black for a moment.

  It sort of figured Zaine had come out of one of the rooms and had heard her entire educational report to Rafael. He had his eyebrows raised and his arms folded across his chest. Unlike many of the men Kenzie came across, however, the look he gave her wasn't sexual, it was just like the look he gave most everyone - predatory. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you didn't intend for me to hear that," he offered.

  Kenzie was frozen in place, though. She couldn't decide if she was hypnotized or mortified beyond belief. She wanted to throw her 'feminine charms' on, but she was a little caught up in his eyes. Didn't that shit only work on birds? It must've been all in her head, but she was sure caught up in his eyes. They were so dark, really, she'd never even noticed before...

  "You kids have fun," he said, finally after what seemed like a full twenty seconds of him just standing there staring Kenzie down. He moved, this time back the way he'd come before, which meant he had to pass Rafael. His eye contact was brief, though - he'd sort of already made his point. There wasn't any need to drive it home with that crayon-headed hunter, at least not one he'd benefit from right away.

  Kenzie stood there a while longer, and then turned and looked back at Rafael, a dark, smoldering expression on her face. "He's so off my list. Let's go," she snapped. "I want rocky road." And with that, she literally flung the door to the parking lot open, the gas strut the only thing that prevented it from banging against the wall. It was hard to effectively slam one of those doors, but even she half-managed. He had to give her that. Of course, she'd just been rejected by the future love of her life, too.

Rafael actually winced as she mentioned things on the internet, some of which he'd seen and wished he never had, as proof that there are ways to use ice cream and the like in horrible ways, and that was unfortunately the route his brain took.  Ice cream might have just been ruined for him.  Damn it.

As much as he disliked Zaine, Rafael thought it was absolutely priceless that the guy had not only heard Kenzie, but had stopped to let her know he'd heard her AND stare her down.  Now, there could be no laughing at Rafael's (and Holly's) expense out of Kenzie when Zaine did the same to them.  No, it didn't only work on birds, and he was personally rather thrilled not to be the one dealing with it right then.

He also felt a little bad for her, since it really WAS a sucky way of dealing with it, but he knew enough about her ways to understand that there wouldn't have been much else that would have stopped her.  That she was ready to move on to ice cream, even if she wasn't pleased, was a good sign.

Having Zaine off her list was a good move for the afternoon.  Batten would be pleased, and Rafael would be asking for more money to babysit next time.  They'd both win.  Now, if he could get Xander off the list, they'd really be in business.  Maybe some Rocky Road would do the trick.  "Guess it's a good thing you're not driving.  With the way you manhandled that door, I don't think we'd make it to Baskin Robbins in one piece," he remarked smoothly, his tone light and amused to counter her foul mood.  Between the two of them, they might hit a peaceful middle mark.

 Kenzie responded to him with a glare, and stormed to the passenger side of his car, hand on the handle ready to open it the moment the lock popped. She flipped her blonde hair back, because Kenzie was kind of Valley like that, and then ducked down into the seat, immediately moving for the air conditioning, only to find out it was already off. Right, Rafael was a bird, birds like it warm. She opted to roll down the window, and put her seatbelt on.

  "What an asshole," she muttered under her breath as they pulled out of the parking lot. She'd have to rethink her entire strategy now, especially since he'd called her a kid. All men had a weakness, she'd just need to find out what his was, and break it. It was kind of funny Kenzie was trying to learn how to break men when Connor was fronting a guild that battled a sort of operation that relied on broken spirits. Kenzie was a girl, though, and the code of most women was to break a man and then re-draw him how you wanted him to be.

  "So how's your stripper girlfriend?" she asked pointedly, focusing some of her irritation at Rafael. She didn't really have anything against Tristina, but she didn't mind reminding Rafael of the fact that he was dating someone who typically wouldn't come with any class to their package - especially a human. She'd seen All Hallows before, she knew the requirements to work there were pretty high, and she wondered what Tristina had done to get the job.

  It probably wouldn't have been anything as horrible as what Kenzie herself would have done, but that was entirely besides the point. Kenzie was seventeen, and "moral compass" was a relative term for her. She pretended not to know the difference between good and bad until she was cornered with it.

Not just a bird, but a tropical bird.  He liked the heat, and handled it well.  He wasn't as fond of winter, but having a higher body temperature than everyone else did help with that.  He retained heat extremely well, obviously.  He'd have been fine with the AC if she'd wanted it, but that she rolled down the window instead was much more to his preference.  A real breeze, even if NYC air wasn't all that fresh, was more to his liking than vehicle generated coolness.  Besides, having the window open felt less claustrophobic with the angry teen, and that was important.

Made even more so by her comment and it's malicious intent.  He knew that she meant to take her upset out on him the instant the words left her mouth, and he didn't react as though it were an issue, instead focusing on where he was going.  Nobody really gave Rafael enough credit for what he held back and how little of himself he put into social interactions until they were someone that he trusted and cared about.  Then, the difference was painfully obvious.  He still hadn't placed Tristina into that category. 

"She's doing well, actually.  We're both busy with work, so we're not seeing each other often enough, but we've talked on the phone when we couldn't get together," he offered, his tone pleasantly neutral.  'Work' was such a careful thing, hers being taking her clothes off for money, and his requiring that he play 'pet' for a vampire in Midnight.  Fortunately, he had some moments to enjoy his real life, such as now, or Midnight might have made him a little crazy even just pretending, but they were getting to be less as Gabriel was dragged further in.  The more focus there was on Gabriel, the less the vampire's 'possessions' could be out and about, even with the explanation they'd given the other trainers.  Gabe had said that Rafael was 'tamed', but kept unbroken because he was better at what his vampire master needed him for as he was.  It worked well enough, and Rafael could play his part, so the questions had been limited.  It was actually impressive that he hadn't slipped up, honestly, since they'd all been extremely interested and in his space when they realized he was Arini, but he'd managed to refrain from drawing away from them all.  He'd just been uncomfortable and chosen to remain still despite it, and they'd all just ooh'd and ahh'd because that was a rumor about his breed, anyway. 

Yes, he so loved hearing people talk about his 'breed', like it was some animal.  Yeah, it was similar, but he didn't have to like it.

Good thing he didn't know what Kenzie was thinking about men.  He wouldn't have appreciated the sentiment.  "What do you want to do after ice cream?"

  "What kind of a lame ass relationship is that? Talk on the phone? She's probably cheating on you. You should dump her and find someone more awesome," Kenzie said. She only sounded like she was half-paying attention at that point, but it was very likely the case. She had the attention span of a gnat, apparently - most girls her age did.

  "After ice cream? I don't know," she admitted. That brought her back into the current. What was there to do? "Get a tattoo? Get something pierced? Oh, get our palms read?" she asked, glancing back at Rafael. "We could go downtown and walk the strip until something interesting pops up, I guess." She frowned. Why was it so easy to be bored in this place?

  "Or we could come back here and you could let me hang out until I get you into more trouble than Connor is paying you for," she said pointedly. How had Kenzie known that Connor was paying him? Or it could always be a bluff, and she was suspicious. It was hard to tell; Kenzie wasn't necessarily what one would call 'dumb'. She was just... blonde.