On Such a Breakable Thread [10% Complete]

[Arielle Orion]

Prompt List

• Christmas
• Silence
• Dreams
• Heaven
• Morning
• Passage
• Guard
• Drunk
• Secret
• Supernatural

[Arielle Orion]

D R U N K

"Wait," Tyler said, stumbling on his own two feet as he tried to keep up with Anya, Nico and Liam. "Why am I the bait in this plan?" he demanded, trying to move out of Anya's way as she hustled past him to grab the pool stick she liked from the rack. They were all at the Mojo Lounge, and all of them drunk (except for Liam, who was playing DD), trying to unwind after a night of an unsuccessful hunt, and they had begun to speculate group tactics.

Tyler, at twenty-six, was the only level-five hunter of the group - besides Anya, of course. Her lineage demanded nothing less from her, despite that neither of her parents had wanted that life for her. Nicole and Liam were younger, still - Nicole was only twenty-one, and she was a level three - not a trainee, but not cleared for the heavy stuff. Liam was the youngest of them all, at sixteen. He was only a trainee, but smart. Tyler took no issue having the teen at his back, but he didn't want to play against him in pool, so he quickly nabbed Liam as his teammate.

"Oh?" Anya quipped, her brows raised as she looked across the table at Tyler. "Is that right, bait-boy?" she challenged.

Nicole snorted into her drink, chalk rolling out of her hand and hitting the edge of the table with a clack. She picked it back up and traded her beer for the pool stick, rubbing the blue substance on the end until she was satisfied it was sufficiently covered. "Trouble in paradise," she muttered under her breath, but gave Liam a knowing raise of her brows.

"Hey! Bait-boy? You're sleeping on the couch tonight if you keep that up, missy," Tyler threatened, pointing at the blonde with his pool stick.

She replied by rolling her eyes and setting up the rack. "Anyways, like I was saying," she said, looking pointedly at Tyler, "if the four of us went, we could use Tyler as bait. Mistari are rare enough, and I know Midnight would love to catch a tiger by the toe and make him holler," she said. Her voice was so calm as she spoke, it was almost as though she wasn't drunk at all.

"You're too methodical, Anya," Nico chastised. "You need to learn to loosen up."

"No shit," Tyler muttered. "My own girlfriend is plotting to pass me off to freak vampires as some sort of striped cabana boy."

"Oh, Jesus!" Liam exclaimed. "Come on, guys."

"No," Anya corrected. "I'm loose. I'm just saying, if we put him down in the middle, you could get the drop on them from a distance and he could take them out internally. I'm not talking about a full-scale attack on Midnight, I'm talking about luring one trainer, already on our wanted list, out of hiding. He would never be able to resist a tiger," she insisted. It was very like her not to let go, and the rest of the group shifted uncomfortably as they realized she was serious.

"Well, then I'll make you a tiger and you can be the bait," Tyler offered.

Anya let a breath escape through her nostrils as her mouth was set into a firm line. She fixed her brown eyes on him. "The one time you offer your blood up and it's when it's to save your own ass," she said smoothly. There was a tension in the silence between the duo before Tyler reached a large arm out to snatch Anya up and pull her close. He dragged his teeth against her neck gently and whispered something into her ear that the others didn't hear. Whatever he'd said made her smile wickedly and laugh, then turn in his grasp and drop a kiss upon his lips.

"You're so gross," Nicole accused. "And stupid. And because of those two things, Liam's now on my team. Good luck, suckers," she snapped. "Liam, take your shot." She looked over at the teen, only to catch him looking at her legs, and rolled her eyes. "Get real, spaz," she told him, popping him in the side with her stick and leaving a blue smudge on his shirt.

"Maybe Liam could be the bait," Anya said, all of the seriousness drained from her face. She was smiling, laughing, hugging on Tyler, and generally having a good time.

"If he keep looking at Nicole like that, I think she's like to leave him on their door with a pretty bow tied around his neck," Tyler said. He tried to keep a serious face, but just started laughing.

"Stop!" Liam shouted, but his face just grew more and more red. "Fuck this, no teams. Eight ball, me and you Tyler. Hundred bucks, put it on the table!" he commanded. And, just like his father, Liam had the unique ability to see how things 'worked', as it were, so when Tyler ponied up his money, Liam took it easily - and then Anya's, and then Tyler's again.

"Who's the spaz now, drunky McDrunkenstein?" Liam demanded to Tyler later, as the Mistari vomited up the last of his Mojo Juice in the bushes in front of he and Anya's house.