On the Grind {Ash}

[Ezra Smoke]

It was disturbing, clearly, what Riese was doing. He savoured every moment of it, holding his hand over the young vampire's mouth as she choked back a scream, the life being sucked out of her slowly as the Witch twisted the knife methodically into her unbeating heart. Riese leaned his head against the cold brick wall, his forehead moist with sweat. She'd put up a fight, but finally, she was gone. He gave the blade one final, violent turn, jerking it out at an angle and stepping back, wiping the blood on the sleeve of his black peacoat. The dead vampire slid to the ground, another unknown victim for NYPD to deal with. Her friends were already waiting, watching with those glimmering black eyes, ready to pull the body into the darkness with them, to do.. whatever with it. He didn't care. Screw it, cut it up and eat it, burn it, or give it a funeral. It made no difference to him.

He tucked the Vida blade safely into the inside of his sleeve, into the mechanism he'd designed for it to sit, concealed safely away but with enough closeness that he could get it when he needed. His reflexes were fast, and Dominique's training had helped, but he was still not a Vida, and he knew it. Whistling a cheerful tune, he stepped out of the alley, and continued on down the street, the sounds of the vampires swarming the alley to collect their dead forgotten behind him.

[Ash Leone]

Ash was about three seconds from wondering why the hell Riese would be stupid enough to hunt so close to the Hollow, since he hadn't even ventured far before he ran into the mess that the witch was leaving behind, and nothing he could consider could really explain it to him.  It just seemed like blatant lack of attention, which wasn't a good thing.

"Your hobbies have changed since I last saw you," he remarked mildly, eying the vamps in the alley as the witch walked away from it.

This didn't look like something that was a mere fluke, which made the triste wonder just how often Riese had done this.  Just what the hell was he up to anymore?

[Ezra Smoke]

Riese was glad enough that he'd had Marcus' blade securely tucked away. The last thing he wanted was for the Triste to know he had it, and he definitely didn't want it getting back to Danielle. There was something he didn't need to be involved in - for as much as he'd absorbed from the Ice Queen Dominique, no emotional void would prepare him for that encounter, when and should it ever happen. He regarded the Triste evenly, but was careful not to forget himself. His aura almost instantly 'warmed' up back to the level where it should have been. A few moments left behind, and Riese Smoke appeared just that - a Smoke, enjoying the evening.

Perhaps too much had changed.

"You haven't seen me since I was sixteen," he pointed out casually, the smile on his lips not quite matching his eyes. No matter how much he bled off of his aura, his eyes refused to lose that glint, the small glimmer of madness that he shared so much with Ash's fair-haired girlfriend. It was, perhaps, more disturbing than the fact he'd just killed a vampire, though in this company he didn't really expect to be disagreed with on his views of them.

"They're cleaning it up, anyways," he said, walking closer to the Triste enough to speak without shouting. "I know where the Hollow is, even if I never visit. I'll be more considerate next time about where I do my.. trash detail," he said, voice measured. He was testing Ash, not to be disrespectful, but to gauge where he was positioned with him. Riese didn't necessarily want anyone in his family to know exactly what he'd been doing while he was away.

[Ash Leone]

Whether or not Ash had seen the blade, he wouldn't have mentioned it.  He was intrigued by the Smoke's presence, aware that something was WAY wrong, and wondering just how many of the rumors he'd heard through the witch lines were true.  None of this seemed like a good thing.  Dani would freak out if she found out.

"True.  The years tend to pass more quickly after the first century," he commented almost wistfully, still keeping a nice, level approach to it.  He didn't want to scare the witch off too quickly.  It was kind of weirding him out how much the guy sounded like Dani, but he wasn't going to mention it.  He'd also had that freaky dream, or whatever it was, about Dani marrying Riese, and that was messing with his head a little as well, but he wasn't going there.

"They're cleaning it up, but they know who you are.  How long until they track down someone you know?  That was a group, and even some hunters would be overwhelmed by it.  You're taking unnecessary risks," he pointed out, though he gave a dismissive wave at the mention of the Hollow.  He wasn't worried about the mess, just surprised by it.  "Better that you kill near here occasionally, where I can watch.  Don't damage my customers, though."

[Ezra Smoke]

Riese was relieved at the Triste's humour, although the remark about having the people he cared about hunted down seemed to darken his mood a little. He shook it off, allowing the cold to roll over him in waves, and smiled a little. "They'd have more trouble than they knew what to do with if they tried it again," he said lightly. "Though it is a bit of a kick in the ass that my abilities only lay in the realm of healing... although it does work wonders for myself," he quipped, laughter clipping the end of his words.

"I suppose if you want to keep an eye on me, I can hunt a little more often in the area. As for your clientele, I wouldn't dream of disrupting your policy in your abode, but where exactly does the line get drawn? Fifty feet? One hundred?" He imagined it'd be like camping out a spawn point, but shook the idea off quickly. "I won't bother them," he said, before Ash could reply with something severe. "You have my word. But enough of that - how have things been? I'm not frequent in this area much, these days I'm afraid. I'm sure you understand. Bad blood, and all that."

Something like that, anyways. He was lucky if his mother would even look at him. It pleased him to no end to know how far the apple had fallen from the tree, and rolled away, and fallen down a hole... "How's Danielle?" he asked. He winced as he said her name. He needed to know, though. "Still crazy?" It wasn't an insult.

[Ash Leone]

Riese may have improved and learned a lot since Ash had last seen him, but Ash was still a triste, and he could still read the witch's auras as though he were anyone else.  He saw the relief and the sudden darker twist, and he filed it away for later.  Usually, Ash was that sort of a person, watching and learning before acting.  It made acting much easier.

"I would very much like to keep an eye on you," he admitted, ignoring the mention of a specific distance expect to give Riese a 'look', and the witch fixed it, anyway.  For some reason, it was the outcasts from the witch lines that seemed to gravitate towards him, and he wouldn't deny them. 

Riese had certainly missed a lot, though.

"Things have been...interesting.  You've missed a lot, but everything is calmer now than it was.  Danielle is about as well as ever," he offered, not about to admit that she was 'crazy', insult or no.  He knew better.  "She and I have had our moments, but she's been in one place for quite some time now, so I'm hopeful."

Hopeful for what?  Her survival?  Her sanity?  Her and him?  Something.

[Ezra Smoke]

Riese cocked a brow at Ash's 'very much' like to keep an eye on him. He said nothing, but still... he'd never grown as fond of the Triste as everyone else had, but he had his own reasons. It was more of a trust issue than anything - that and the fact that he simply didn't feel obligated to love everyone that was thrown at him, which seemed to be increasingly harder for more of his bloodline to accept. He still didn't understand why Matthew was involved with SingleEarth - if he'd known Posey had taken Laurel there, he'd have killed her. There was no sugar-coating that.

"That's good. Celeste, I'm sure, is still a fabulous parent," he remarked sarcastically. Had it been anyone else ahead of those two, he wondered if Marcus would still be alive. Something he and Danielle had in common - blaming everyone. It wasn't a trait he'd lose, but at least he didn't blame people unrelated to the issue at hand. Admittedly, Celeste was a horrible parent. She knew it. He knew it.

"I ran into Andrew in California, he said he was headed this way. Seen him yet?" he asked. His dislike for the Vida was mutual, but nowhere near what it was with Danielle. "I haven't been to see Matthew yet. Nobody's aware I'm here, and I'm not sure how long I want it to stay that way." He paused. He didn't want Laurel to know he was there.

[Ash Leone]

There was no denying that Riese was a little...off, well, a lot off, but Ash would do what he could for him just as he did for Dani.  Of course, Dani had special privileges, for obvious reasons, and Riese wouldn't be getting any of THOSE because he wasn't nearly as pretty. 

Like the fact that Dani could piss off a hell of a vampire, and Ash would chase the creature away, whatever it took.

Dani was lucky, that much was certain, but Ash would help Riese where he could.  'Watching' a rogue Vida AND a rogue Smoke wouldn't be easy, though.  "From what I've heard, Celeste is still very much herself, and we leave it at that."

He wasn't getting into that one.  It was too much of a mess already.

"I've seen him, though I can't honestly say I was pleased at the time.  He and I will meet under less pleasant terms eventually, and I don't really want to consider how that's likely to turn out."

Basically, he was confident he'd win.  He thought he'd have won BEFORE Midnight, but he'd definitely toughened up since his recovery.  He would smash the Vida into the dirt if he had to, and he assumed that the man would eventually come for Danielle.  If that ever happened, someone's world was going to explode.  "It'll stay that way for as long as you want it to, as far as I'm concerned."

I.E. Ash wasn't telling.

[Ezra Smoke]

"Nngh," he said, in response to both Celeste and Andrew. "They're equally personable." He nodded to Ash a little. "What're you doing out and about, anyways? You guys don't close up until later, right?" he asked. It was half-past midnight, but it was also a weeknight.

He paused for a second. He knew Griffon had been seen, but he didn't want to delve into it without proof. He'd sensed him in Ramsa, though he didn't dare go close enough that his family or old friends would know he was home. He was still trying to be cautious, and he didn't want to lead him straight to Laurel. She would be safer at SingleEarth than she would with him, at least from the rumours he'd heard. A Light Witch turned Kendra, yes, he'd heard the story of how the pyromaniac had set an apartment complex on fire. It didn't take much.

"You leave this place for a day and you miss a lot, it seems," he mused. "I don't even think I'll bother trying to catch up, this time."

[Ash Leone]

It was amusing just how used to seeing him around the Hollow people were, to the point that it surprised them when they saw him outside.  Only Dani and his staff seemed to take notice of the fact that he had his share of time off, even if he still spent a good bit of it at the bar keeping things organized, but he was the boss.  He came and went as he pleased, always keeping the needs of the business and his staff in mind.

Right then, some fresh air had seemed like an incredibly good idea, and he'd learned not to ignore feelings like that.  Usually, they were subtle little grudges, but ignoring them never did him any good.  Tonight, he'd found Riese.

"We don't close until later, but my staff can handle it for the moment," he replied smoothly, not even mentioning that, if they couldn't, he had a cell phone he could be reached on within a moment.  He trusted Dave and Darren to have a grip on whatever happened long enough to call him and wait for his arrival.  He smiled some at Riese's decision, shaking his head a little.  "Catching up would probably take you long enough that you'd miss even more in the process.  It's a vicious cycle."

[Ezra Smoke]

"I can only imagine," he replied, tone meeting Ash's equally. "There's a similar venue in Los Angeles like yours, I go there sometimes to break the routine, but I try not to stay too often. I'm not sure how much of your clientèle consists of vampires, but they are everywhere on the West coast. It makes my life busy, though," he said with a laugh.

"I was on my way to the hotel, actually, when I found.. well. There seems to be a lot of them, here. No different in any other city, I suppose. Mayhem still bustling with activity, I imagine? I've heard Midnight's been more active, as well." He fell strangely silent. He would kill for the location, if he thought he could make anything come of it.

[Ash Leone]

It was only fortunate that Ash hadn't yet used his knowledge of Midnight's location to his own advantage.  There were enough people who would use it for things that Midnight and her vampires wouldn't like, but he'd kept the information to himself.  It pained him to know that Jeshickah had taken the complex back, and was likely enjoying the firestone he'd set into the former Master's quarters for security.  All that for nothing.

He nodded at the mention of a 'similar venue' in Los Angeles, but said nothing more.  There were small pockets of 'neutral establishments' all over the country.  Whether Ash personally knew of the place Riese mentioned or not was uncertain, but he didn't comment. 

"Mayhem doesn't seem to have changed much, but they haven't been more aggressive than usual lately, which is appreciated.  They have their balance, and they try to stick to it.  It's Midnight that is getting more dangerous.  Her Mistress is back in power, and she's putting things back the way she likes them, even if everyone else has a problem with it," he explained in a low voice.  He wasn't afraid of Midnight or Jeshickah, but the fact of the matter was that he wasn't willing to draw a fight to himself prematurely.  Jeshickah had too many spies running around.  "There have been more shifters alone taken in the past year than I've ever remembered.  It's bad enough that the shifters have formed something of a council to call upon leaders of their breeds and stand together.  I think they have the right idea, in essence."

There were faults with the plan, but Ash intended to point those out to the founders themselves.

[Ezra Smoke]

"A Shifter Council?" he asked incredulously. Wat? "Really? I guess on paper it would seem like a good idea, but one or two bad apples, and everyone's going to get snatched," he muttered. "Eh, I guess I'd have to see it to know for sure." He shrugged a little, although Midnight's rise in activity did disturb him. He was still a Witch, even if he was bordering on crazy.

"You know, it happened a lot out West, too. It was slow, but then one day, I heard word that people were vanishing left and right. Mostly shifters, too." He knew Midnight itself only had one location, but if it had been on the rise, then it would explain a lot. Trainers and buyers and traders went to the ends of the earth looking for things beautiful and exotic, and shifters were generally that.

"Looks like I came back just in time," he mused. Riese was always ready for a fight.