Welcome To My Nightmare

See here for more information on the Supernatural RP, or contact Maeglin, ArielButtercup or MissAusten with any questions.

Disclaimer: We tend to be a little more informal around here (as well as infernal): lax with customary RP rules, rough with our language, and generally sacrelicious. We ask only that you play nice, stick to SPN canon, don’t be (too) mean, and do everything in your power to make the game fun for everyone.

Happy hunting!

Name: Adara Muna
Age: 2500 years old. Give or take a few centuries. Appears to be 25 years old.
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Arab
Weight: 115
Height: 5' 1"
Hair: Long, straight, dark reddish-brown and thick.
Eyes: Hazel, though they glow blue if she's not controlling her appearance.
Build: Gently curvy
Hometown: The Cradle of Life
Profession: DJ at a popular night club.
Portrayed by: Aishwariya Rai
Theme song: ~~~~~~~~
Image (optional): http://image28.webshots.com/28/5/19/15/2167519150096188724RTgamr_fs.jpg (The site is being stupid. You have to cut and paste the link *sigh*)
Appearance: Usually dressed in clothes appropriate for clubbing with a good amount of well applied makeup. She finds it to be the best lure for her prey.
Personality: Comes across as sweet and charming till she has you alone, then her cruel nature comes out.
Strengths and Weaknesses: Her over confidence in her own abilities is also her greatest weakness.
Markings: Distinctive black tattoos stretch and swirl over most of her skin, but she has the ability to hide them at will. Her right hand glows as if covered in blue flames when she feeds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had to eat tonight. It had already been too long since her last meal and now hunger gnawed at her. The people around her looked more like cattle now than humans. Not that they were any different anyway.

Bodies moved in a nearly frantic rhythmic motion to the deafening beat of bass laden music as Adara surveyed the club, her own hips moving with the beat. The night would be over soon and the club would empty, so the urgency to locate suitable prey weighed on her mind.

Suddenly her eyes locked with a pair of dark blue ones in a far corner. He was tall with a fair complexion, a shock of black hair and a cocky attitude exuding from every pore. He was perfect.

The current song hit the last few lines, and Adara pressed a button on the board in front of her and the song faded into the soft strains of a ballad, the last song. With a sultry smile, Adara crooked her finger at Mister Cocky. He lifted an eyebrow in response, his own lips curving into a sly grin as he worked through the bodies, now clinging to each other as they swayed gently.

He reached the DJ platform, and Adara grabbed his hand, pulling him on the short stage before tugging him behind a pair of black curtains. The service hallway was empty as she knew it would be. His mouth connected with her own in a hungry kiss as his hands moved to the single thread that laced together the edges of the red corset she wore. Adara broke the kiss, moving her mouth next to his ear.

"Not here. My boss will be by any second to clear out the club. My car is in the alley though." She purred, the slightest hint of a middle eastern accent playing around the edges of her words.

"For you babe? Anywhere."

As they walked to the end of the hallway, Adara's mouth watered slightly. This was certainly worth the wait.

((In case anyone is confused, this is not Rome. Just some random dude. Wanted to give you an idea of her MO.))

((OOC: lol, Incen, I think I was the only one who was confused. Sorry, and thanks for clarifying!))

Rome grabbed his duffel and took it to the bathroom, opening it for the first time since they'd been in Tex's place. He hadn't even seen a real bed or a shower, yet--though he was sure he had consumed more calories in the past two days than he had in the last week, between Tex's Southern cooking and the case of Shiner Bock that he'd done more than his share in helping take down--and already it was time to move out. Ah, a life on the run.

It would be nice to actually do some serious hunting instead of being hunted, though. He was getting sick of turnaround--especially from people, the people he was trying to save. That was getting on his nerves.

After a shower and a change of clothes, Rome poked around upstairs looking for his brother. Presumably Rawson had to sleep sometime.

Eventually, he found what would come to be known as The Twins' Room. It was the only double-bed room in the house, so Rawson had grabbed it. It was funny. Even when there was an option, they had always shared a room. Even sharing a bed was doable and perfectly natural, if annoying--Rawson was a twitchy sleeper. But everything was packed and neat in here, and while Rawson had clearly claimed it for them, there was no sign of him.

There was, however, a note.

Romey--

I took the car. A new job came up, and I didn't want to wake you. Don't worry, it'll go smoothly. If all goes well, I'll see you in about a week with an extra 50 grand in pocket. Take care of yourself, or I'll kick your ass. Don't think I won't.

--R

"You're frakking kidding me." It was not an exclamation, a cry of distress, a concern, an attempt to attract attention, or even a rhetorical question. It was a statement. "Why am I not surprised." Another statement. "Fine. Whatever. I'm sick of his sh*t. I hope that neon green monstrosity ends up in the bottom of a lake somewhere, and I don't frakking care if he's in it." Of course he didn't actually mean it, and took it back under his breath almost before he said the words, but he was still pissed. What upset him the most was how cutesy he was about the whole thing, too, like he was ten years older and knew better. He was "R" and Rome wasy just "Romey." God, that was infuriating.

"You okay?" came a timid voice from the door. Elenna.

Rome huffed, trying to ignore, hide, or bury how simultaneously furious and terrified he felt. "Yeah. Fine. Hey, look, I'm gonna need a ride."

"Sure," she said, still sounding a bit nervous, like she expected him to explode at any moment. Fortunately, she didn't ask about Rawson. She probably didn't need to. "I'm ready when you are."

Sometimes Rome scared Lenna a little bit. She didn’t mind the premonitions or his attitude to other girls, but this normal sounding angry at Raws and never really meaning it. He always reacted this way when Raws did one of his jobs. So Lenna knew just from Rome tone that Raws wouldn’t go with them to Chicago.

I am glad I don’t have to drive alone this time.

After Aly and Rome switched cars on that way to the Safehouse, she felt a little bit lonely. She didn’t like the fact that it was her fault that they switched the cars. So she bit her lip not to smile when Rome asked if he can drive with her. She would act a little more normal on the drive.

“Hey Rome look, Tex said I can borrow the Rituale Romanum. So I can read it probably and learn the useful things from it, so I know them when we need the information. Maybe I should teach you some of the stuff that is in there; at least you should know how to read the Latin in case you need it. Maybe the next time we meet a demon it is me that get possessed and I need someone who saves me.” Lenna smiled shy at him and hoped he would get the message that she was okay with learning the exorcism to make him feel safer, but also that he will not always be the victim. She tried to look encouraging at him, but she wasn't sure if she even could look that way.

“I just get my stuff and then we can go.”

While she turned around she checked if the small wooden cross of her brother was still safe in her pocket. It was as usual in its place, in the right front pocket of her jeans. So everything was fine.

Lily yawned, padding after Caleb yet again. She didn't handle new people well, and she tended to react to it by finding one person to latch on to. Normally, she'd stay close to Tex, but Tex had her hands- and house- full, and Lily didn't want to be in the way. Since Caleb had become her sleeping buddy- in the literal sense of the word, not the euphemistic sense- she found herself latching on to him.

Of course, Lily being Lily, she still carried her backpack like a security blanket with her. It had everything she needed, after all- her laptop, in case she needed to look something up, her books that she was studying and her books that she was reading for sake of enjoyment.

And it had the little rainbow-shelled turtle in hideous neon colors that Keith had won for her out of a claw-machine.

Her backpack stayed with her.

And right now, she was staying with Caleb. So far, he'd done a good job of waking her up when her nightmares started causing her self-destructive tendencies. She still couldn't remember her dreams- sensations of terror, but that was it. A fleeting image of tracking something beautiful but deadly. Impressions. That's all she had. Impressions and a few feelings, and the only reason she knew that was because the same dreams were happening every time she slept- her subconscious mind recognized that even if her waking mind didn't.

She was still tired. She'd been sleeping, but her sleep didn't feel restful. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but she had a theory that vision-sleep, which was what her nightmares were- short circuited the REM pattern, so she wasn't getting the deep sleep she needed.

In which case, she was screwed, because she was exerting as much control as she could, and meditating as much as possible.

She tugged on Caleb's sleeve and yawned again, her jaw popping. "What's the what, Mr. Daly?" She rather liked Caleb- they shared space, but they didn't really talk a lot. She did her thing, and he did his, and it worked well. Every once in a while, though, Lily would speak just to hear an audible voice.

"The what is, we've gotta track it up to Chicago and kill some Vampires. We don't know how many there are yet, but it should be the average Vamp Hunt. We'll be back here in time for lunch," Caleb answered, drawing his Glock performing a quick tap, rack and brass check before returning it to its holster.

He turned back towards Lily and raised an eyebrow at her. She still looked pretty exhausted - the nightmares had been doing her no favours. He'd been prodding her awake any time she started chewing on her lips or tongue, or tearing at herself. He was just fortunate he was a light enough sleeper and could get a decent amount of rest from a fairly small amount of sleep. As annoyed as he'd been initially, he had to admit he was the right person for the job. And Lily, for the most part, did her own thing. She wasn't needy or clingy. She just needed someone to stop her hurting herself. He pulled on his jacket to conceal his pistols and his knife and checked his pockets for keys. His heavy hardware was still in the pickup.

"Who's travellin' with who?" Caleb asked the group in general.

Lily managed a small smile at the older man. "I fully plan on being your traveling companion, as long as you are willing to have me as one. I have no intention of inflicting myself upon you more than I already have, though, so if you would rather I travel with the others, I can drive the RV by myself."

She shuffled her feet self-consciously, holding her backpack tighter. She didn't really want the company, but she didn't want to be by herself. As far as company went, Caleb was tolerable.

In Lily-speak, that meant she actually did want to spend time with him and enjoyed doing so. She could relax around him in a way she hadn't done with people in months.

"Well, my dirtbag of a brother left me without wheels, so I'll be hitching a ride with Lennie, here." Rome said, clapping her on the back. His good nature had returned, or, at the very least, appeared so--even to him. Focusing on other people's problems was the single best way to forget your own, so he shifted his attention to the forlorn-looking redhead from whom he'd gotten some sort of psychic blast last night. He hoped it was just his imagination, but he highly doubted it, and sincerely hoped he wouldn't get a repeat performance. Anyway, he had plenty of time to figure this one out.

"Well, frack me sideways, we haven't even properly introduced everyone, yet. Caleb, of course, you've met him. I'm Rome, and if you ever see a less handsome version of me running around, that'll be my brother, Rawson. This right here is Elenna," he squeezed her shoulder affectionately. "She's the brains. Allison here's our government operative in exile. That was fun," he winked at the FBI agent, who was dressed and ready to go, but pale, sitting in a chair, clutching her bag a little desperately. "And this is Danila," he referenced the tall man trudging down the stairs, fully dressed in his trenchcoat and toting his duffel. "He's our resident foreigner, and he's pretty damn handy with a gun for an old man."

"Vatch yourself, boy," he growled, brushing past him to the kitchen, where his prune juice waited.

Rome laughed: "Good morning to you, too, Pops!" Rome looked around. "And Georgie should be around here somewhere. She usually wears pink and can be seen from space, so you can't miss her." Rome paused briefly, making sure that was it. Eight. An awkward number only because one less and they could be the the Magnificent Seven, or one more and be the Fellowship of the Ring. But Eight was just lame. The Crazy Eight? Hmm.

"Caleb's got Lily. Dan, why don't you ride with Georgie? Aly and me'll go with Elenna. Every town, we switch, that's the rules...that I just made up. Just kidding, but seriously, gotta get to know the team. Anyway, last time I checked we got about 800 miles between us and this Vampire Nest, so I say we move 'em out like yesterday, capice?"

Lenna smiled shy by being called the brain. Even though she was it but it was still embarrassing to be introduced as the brain. But something was troubling her.

Don't you dare Romulus Remington to leave me alone with any of these strangers in the mustang.

Sometimes Lenna wondered if it was safe to think around Rome, what if he could read minds and just never told them about it?

“You wanna stop each town? We will never arrive.” Lenna looked a little annoyed at Rome. She said quiet that only Rome could hear her. “Don’t force me to drive with strangers. You know that I am not a good with them.”

“I can really take the books Tex? They are awesome.” Lenna was excited like a little kid that got a new toy. Tex smiled. “Yes keep them, but when you come back you have to finish what you started in the library.”

“Yes I will.” Lenna looked for a moment as if she would say that she stays behind and goes immediately back to finish the library. But she didn’t want to stay alone in a place she didn’t know. Lenna picked up the books and last few things and went outside to the mustang. She loaded her stuff in the trunk. This time she could arrange the mustang so no personal things lay around. She collected all pictures of her brother and parents and all family pictures that where hidden everywhere and put them in a wooden curse box, which kept all evil outside. It was a weird feeling to hide everything from her past, but she wanted to avoid questions about her family. Everything personal in the mustang was kept in different curse boxes the only thing that was left was the wooden cross of her brother at the review mirror. Lenna looked a last time satisfied at the mustang and walked back inside. She stayed close by Rome and waited to see what they do next.

Adara watched as the body caught fire in the large furnace; the smoke rising up the tall exhaust shaft. Her vibrant blue eyes took on an almost green glow as she watched the bright flames engulf the remains of her meal.

He'd been a poor choice, but that was her own fault. It's always a mistake to go shopping on an empty stomach after all. Mister Cocky had allowed his fears and insecurities to consume him far earlier than she had anticipated. For one with such a brave front, he gave into his nightmares amazingly fast. At least the biting hunger had subsided for now, and she could feel some of her strength returning.

She glanced in a nearby mirror. Black markings swirled delicately around all her visible flesh. Her eyes glowed a brilliant blue, and her thick hair was now wild with curls. Adara smiled and traced a finger over the tattoos on one arm. It felt good to be herself for a short time. Disguising herself took so much energy.

With a small sigh, Adara shut the door to the furnace. The body would be nothing more than ash in the morning and tomorrow night would bring new prey.

((OOC: As per usual, if I have anyone behaving out of character, please let me know and I will remedy!))

One long, grueling day of driving really took it out of you.

I mean, really. Fourteen hours, if you added in rest stops for the herd of women they were carting around, quickly became seventeen hours. No human should ever have to endure that.

On the plus side, these hunters were entertaining company. As much as Elenna didn't want to be left "alone" with "strangers," every time some girl needed to go pee or freshen up their makeup or stop for a bite to eat (apparently convenience store snacks did not qualify as "real" food for most females), Rome switched cars.

It was nice to ride with Elenna and Allison in the Mustang--despite Elenna's generally terrible taste in music--without being worried sick or corpse-powder-sick or tripping-balls-sick, you know, for once. Elenna had stopped the whole talking-to-her-car thing which was getting annoying, so that was good. It was comforting to know that eventually the pain did go away. He saw her shoving pictures and things into old boxes with weird markings on them, which was fine by him: best way to forget is to, well, forget. Himself, he only had mom's rosary anymore--no pictures--and half of him kept it for utilitarian reasons like this-thing-helped-me-take-down-a-skinwalker. She was all fun and games and played Justin Timberlake until both he and Allison threatened to scalp her if she didn't turn it off.

Allison was definitely on the mend, though she still seemed a little emotionally shell-shocked. Rome noticed that she still kept her badge in her purse--which was going to be awesome when they needed to play federal agents once again!--despite the fact that it meant nothing now. Still, she held it together. She spent a good portion of the time quietly reading in a few of Elenna's books as Elenna rattled off page numbers like an encyclopedia: "Vampires, 31-4, 55, and 89."

In Kansas City he made everyone play musical cars until he ended up with Georgie and Lily in the pink Audi. He was terrified that he might end up being forced to listen to bubble-gum-pop and inhale nail polish the entire time, but was surprised and pleased to find Lily on his side more than she sided with the other girl. Which was awesome. He'd made Lily an honorary man after she belched louder than he was after a two-liter of diet coke, but then they both punched him in the arm--much harder than he expected--and told him he was a chauvinist pig.

For which, presumably, by the time they reached Springfield he was exiled to the sausage-fest in Caleb's truck. The hot topic was guns for most of the ride, which Rome had a limited capacity for but could feign interest for a good hour or so simply on having practiced caring about these sorts of things when Rawson was in a rare mood to talk. That was the difference: Rawson usually said "Former Marine" if he said anything at all. Rome was perfectly fine telling himself he was an "Ex-Marine" (and yet, ironically, Rome wasn't the one with an other-than-honorable discharge). There were far too many things in this line of business that were impervious to bullets, so it hadn't seemed worth it to Rome to keep up more than the standard sidearms in standard lead, silver and salt rounds. Apparently, he was alone in his opinion.

He managed to change the conversation briefly to foreign relations by pulling out all the Ruskie jokes his father had liked to teach him when mother wasn't around, but that didn't last too long, and pretty soon it was such-and-such steel-core round in such-and-such caliber blah blah repeating blah blah. He would almost rather hear girls complaining that they needed a manicure and a bikini wax and how it was so hard to find a tasteful swimsuit this season. No, yeah, he would definitely rather be hearing about that.

Pleasant daydreams and finally being allowed to control the radio saved him for the last leg of the trip, and they all pulled into Chicago. Rome turned down the music and pulled out his cell, mass-texting the whole group so that the Mustang and the Audi would be sure to get the message:

So it's a Motel 6. The third exit off the interstate, left, and you're there. Reservations for four rooms already made, under "Jake Jensen" if you get there before us, and already paid for. It's near the hunting ground but not in it, and should be out-of-the-way-enough for the likes of us. Catch you on the flip-side.

Adara parked her car -a black Mercedes- in it's usual spot just outside the club's back entrance. She tilted the rearview mirror down for one final check. Hazel eyes gilded with shimmery make up stared back at her. Satisfied, she climbed from the car and walked to the door.

One of the tall bouncers opened the door just as her hand touched the knob.

"Damn, Dara. You be lookin' fine tonight girl!"

She shot him an irritated look. It was annoying when the wrong prey went after the lure. He wasn't incorrect. She did indeed look fine. Tonight's outfit was a snug, blue satin dress. The hem was too high, the top was too low, and the back barely existed. She'd left her hair down, and it swayed across her back just above her waist. Strappy black heels completed the look.

Adara brushed past the annoyance who followed close behind.

"Come on baby. You know you been wantin' to take me home."

She sighed. She would have been lying to herself if she thought the temptation to go after an easy meal wasn't there. It was, but the memory of last night's quick kill stayed her hand. Adara moved through the curtains and onto the stage for setup.

Thirty minutes later, the club was filled with noisy music and writhing bodies. The hunt was afoot.

It was, like, Fate.

With a capital freaking "F."

Rome had been sitting on his ass all day. Not that this wasn't a problem if he had an Xbox controller in his hands for that length of time, but he distinctly had not. He had been sitting in a car all day, drinking way too much caffeine to accommodate this sedentary stance, and he was really going stir-crazy.

So when they drove by a hopping club in a seedy end of town, like an oasis in the desert Rome knew he had found his salvation. A fresh drink of water.

A chance to find someone he could sleep with without feeling like he was fraternizing. And an excuse not to actually do very much sleeping--hur hur hur--because Rome and sleep just didn't mix well these days.

"So I know where I'm going," Rome commented, pressing his nose against the window like a kid in a pet shop.

Caleb caught the place out of the corner of his eye. "A little late, don't you think? Should get an early start tomorrow."

"No worries. If you're gonna hoot with the owls, you have to be prepared to soar with the eagles. I'll be back."

When they pulled up to a hotel, he quickly grabbed his bag from the trunk of the Mustang and checked them all into the hotel. He took a five-minute shower, threw on a clean button-down over his t-shirt and his black leather jacket, a clean-ish pair of jeans and his nice shoes. Grabbed wallet, phone, and met his companions in the hall, who were talking about the hunt or something else unimportant.

"So I'm hitting up the club down the street, anyone coming?" he asked quickly, secretly hoping everyone would say "no," but not really going to stop them. "If all goes well you won't see me til tomorrow," he winked, "but I'll be back early." He adjusted his lengthening hair in the hall mirror and popped his collar:

"It's time to go hunting," he said, with a cheesy grin, "and I ain't talking about vampires."

Lenna had to smile; Rome did ask if someone wanted to go with him, but he didn’t want anyone to come. She knew this game. She was sitting already comfy in a corner having some of her books in reach and was reading the vampire file on her laptop.

“Nah, I am fine here. You know they are always mean to me in clubs and ask if my ID is real. SO go and knock yourself out, but Rome remember responsibility. I really like you but I can’t survive a baby version of you.”

Lenna grinned and stuck her tongue out and said to Rome.

“Sei artig großer Bruder.”

Lenna didn’t even bother if she got food or a bed or even a shower she had her books and was searched to find as much information she could get about the vampires in town. It wasn’t new that Rome wouldn't find Lenna asleep when he got home of his hunt.

Fantastic.

Rome looked around at his companions and waited the polite amount of seconds before grinning widely: "I'll catch you on the flip-side," he said, nodded, and exited the building.

He was half-way down the stairs before he realized he should probably be packing heat since there was an angry vampire running around downtown Chicago, but decided the club wasn't even likely to let him in with a silver knife, so it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He had a phone, he had legs, and he had absolutely presumptions to being heroically retarded like his brother, so he would surely be fine.

The atmosphere of the club immediately set him at ease: a simultaneous rush of adrenaline as the game was afoot coupled with a calming certainty that he was in his element. He flashed his ID--the one for Adam Savage, sans FBI badge--he wasn't stupid enough to flash a wanted man's name around one of the most populated cities in America--smiled at the bouncer who nodded him in with a jerk of his head, and headed straight for the dance floor.

He hit the mass of writhing bodies like a fish rejoining its school. A seamless transition, and suddenly he wasn't Rome anymore. He was part of the whole. Anonymous. Lone, but not alone. He lost himself to the collective unconsciousness, set the rhythm of his heart to the beat of the music, and just was.

An hour went by in about ten minutes before he felt someone watching him. And boy, was she perfect. Rome generally liked to make the first move, to be the spotter, but for her he'd have to make an exception. She was wearing--not wearing--that damn little dress was clinging onto her body for dear life against the collective will of the room which strove to pull it down--a tiny blue dress, stripper high heels, and a look that could kill at twenty paces. She was the jockey for the evening, and if the thumping beats she threw down were any indication of her taste and personality, he might even ask her to dinner tomorrow night and hope she calls him.

She was perfect. And he hadn't even had anything to drink yet. And she had her eye on him.

When Lily was forced to split up from Caleb, her attitudes didn't really change. She simply continued doing what she'd already been doing- reading through her books for the twentyseventh time, colorcoding anything that might be remotely helpful, and then repeated the colorcoded phrases seven times to commit them to memory, and added it to a flashcard. Right now, since they were going after vampires, she focused on vampires, and just refreshed her memory of everything she already knew.

Once she'd finished refreshing, she moved on to the next subject matter in the book: djinn.

After all, she'd already read on ghosts and werewolves, and she was always re-reading vampires, since they ran into them so freaking often.

She barely noticed when they arrived at the motel/hotel/wherever-the-hell-they-were. She followed Caleb in with her stuff, and stretched out on the floor of his room, continuing her research.

She said it was research. In reality, she did it because she enjoyed doing it, and she might as well apply her mind towards the research side of things, so that it would do some good.


((Short post is short, sorry.))

She must be a nice girl, after all she has all those books, and reading girls can’t be mean. Right? Maybe she knows something I don’t know and the other way around.

Lenna stared at the page of her book. She knew Rome liked to be around lots of people but she liked it the way it was, just the three of them, not a whole bunch of people.

Fine, I play along. She can’t be scarier than Georgie is. At least Lily will not try to turn her into a Barbie. Let’s just hope she is less scary then she appears.

“Hey, Lily found anything interesting? Did you notice that we are the only ones that do the research here? I don’t think we are really hunting vampires. The evidence is not really the MO of vampires? I am not sure what it is, but I am sure no vampires.”

Lenna wasn’t sure what she was doing, this whole socializing thing with other people was just not her thing.

Caleb had to admit it. He was kind of a boring guy (three nights in a month aside - not that he'd ever told anyone). He stayed in the hotel while Rome went out clubbing. It was like someone had tripped a switch when he turned 30. Clubs just didn't interest him. So he'd turned Rome down on the offer of going out with the younger hunter. Okay, once in a while he'd meet someone he knew in a roadside bar and he'd wake up two days later with a thumping headache, wearing clothes he didn't recognise and no memory of what happened. But there were Vampires loose in Chicago. This was not an appropriate time to kill some brain cells. Not now, with the gun-loving Rawson AWOL and Danila in his bad state. Caleb acknowledged that in this crew, he was the Chewbacca.

So he did what he felt the resident face-wrecker should be doing. Preparing what he liked to call his CCK - Concealed Carry Kit. He was just about the only person he knew who was comfortable carrying a full-sized combat pistol and full-sized, fixed-blade knife (with an 8" blade in this case). They sat comfortably in his Tex-made sheathe/shoulder-holster combo. Gun under his left arm with two spare magazines tucked behind it, knife under his right. He kept a folding knife clipped in his pocket, a Leatherman in a low-profile belt pouch, and a small, but painfully-bright torch in another belt pouch.

Once he'd finished pawing over his gear, he sat back on the hotel room's couch and listened to whatever it was Elenna and Lily were talking about. Before long, he pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a message Rome's way.

Message wrote:Keep an ear to the ground. Call if you need backup.

Lily tried to smile at... Elenna, wasn't it? Unfortunately, "Lily smile" looked more like "lip curl". "I'm with you, honestly. It just doesn't feel like vampires. Not what they normally do. Vampires aren't the neatest killers in the world. Using Anna here" she patted her laptop, "I was able to pull up the information on the disappearances, and it just doesn't feel like vampires. Vampires are more for the slurp and go, and a lot less with hiding their tracks."

She sighed heavily, ignoring the reddish hair that fell into her face. "Unfortunately, I have no idea what it could be instead."

She looked up at the other girl, spotting Caleb in the corner. "Do either of you?"

Adara licked her lips as she, and her prey sized each other up. Only a short way into the hunt and fortune had smiled upon her.

He'd come into to the club with all the confidence in the world -like they all did- but he was different. His well worn aura gave off an orange-reddish hue that made him easy to spot in the room where most were grayed colors at best. Sharp black lines of fear streaked through the glow he had about him, but they didn't dim the brightness. He had fears, but they did not consume him...a challenge for sure.

Adara flicked her wrist to the man behind her without taking her eyes off of her prey. The alternate took over her place as she wove her way through the crowd. It took no time to reach him, even in the mass of bodies: his brightness set him apart.

She glided her way in front of him, stealing the coveted spot of many women in the room. A fleeting look of dumbstruck awe flashed across his features before he regained composure and grinned. Adara returned the smile but said nothing. She simply grabbed his hand, tugged up his sleeve and wrote:

312.954.1175
I get off work at 2am.

With that she turned and disappeared into the crowd, weaving her way through the bodies before reclaiming her place on the small stage.

This was one to wait until closing time for, Rome thought, grinning widely. Hell, this one was worth waiting all night for.

After she went back to the jock station Rome pulled himself out of the crowd and backed off into a booth, ordering whatever watered-down cocktail was on special, and pulling out his phone to record her number before he sweated it off.

Not that he needed the number if he was going to be here the second she got off work. Because he was going to stay. There weren't really any other clubs nearby, and 2AM was a mere three hours away. Totally doable, and worth every second to even have the opportunity to tap that.

Rome filed the number under Sexy Mystery Jockey, whereupon he discovered he had received a text message from Caleb: Keep an ear to the ground. Call if you need backup.

He grinned and replied: Sry, cant hear you, musics too loud. JK, man, Im on it, duh. See you tomorrow. Pushing the Send button and standing up, Rome threw back what was left of the sugar-water-and-vodka "drink" and waded once more into the throng of bodies.

Normal was awesome. No heading-off-the-deep-end brothers, no premonitions, no vampires, no nothing. Just a man and a woman, and a nice sturdy table, or however that old adage went. Normal was a beautiful thing.

Be nice Lenna, be nice.

Lenna flipped through her book and tried to think of something evil that also drinks the blood of human.

“Um hey can I have a look at the information? Maybe I get an idea from it, what we are fighting.”

Lenna stood up and walked over to Lily. She didn’t put down her big book, it was her safety shield. She was sitting shy next to Lily. She always felt weird around other geeks, not sure if she wanted to beat them or learn from them.

Lily passed over her biggest book, and just moved on to her next one. "Right now, I'm not really looking for anything. I'm just reading things and brushing up on everything, and looking to see if anything jumps out at me."

She tried to smile at the other girl again. "How old are you, Elenna? How did you get started in this business, anyway?"

Lily's version of small talk tended to come across more as interrogation.

Lenna stared at Lily for several seconds without knowing what to say.

Damn it, I hate this part of getting people to know.

“I am 19, why?”

Lenna took the big book hoping she quickly found something in it to avoid answering Lily’s second question. But like always it didn’t work.

“Um I started hunting because um my brother got attacked by a werewolf. And I just ended up at Bobby Singers place. What about you?”

Lenna skipped through the book Lily gave her and had to admit she wanted to read it. She liked it.

“Hey Lily, can I borrow this book at some point? It is an awesome book.” Lenna’s eyes started to shine of happiness.

Lily winced. "Crap. I'm sorry. I'm... fantastically bad? Yeah, that's a good phrase. I'm fantastically bad at small talk. Ask me facts and figures, I'm your girl. Want something found? Sure, no problem. Make friends? The world is doomed."
 
She smile at the other girl. "Go ahead. Books are friends. I've already memorized most of that one, anyway. As always, I'm being an overachieving perfectionist and wanting to memorize things verbatim."