\ Location:Graveyard http://unlimitedi.net/taxonomy/term/158/all en 22:53 Cadee fights http://unlimitedi.net/node/3476 <p> Cadee got to the alley a couple of minutes after them, it wasn&rsquo;t very easy to swim a terrified people sea, this time going &lsquo;inside&rsquo; the club, the sound of shooting in the alley was explanation enough for that change of direction.</p> <p> The back alley was mostly empty, but for the strange freak who was now coldly finishing off a goth girl with a shot to her head. The thing didn&rsquo;t even bother to look at the woman he was killing, as he turned to follow the other one to a van parked at the head of the alley.</p> <p> Really mad, Cadee silently dove towards the gunman, who at the warning cry of his partner, turned and fired , scorching the wall of the club with bullets that missed her by inches. But he didn&rsquo;t count on her unnatural speed, taking him by surprise, she efficiently grabbed the firing hand, yanked the freak towards her and hit him with a solid left to the remains of his head while at the same time she twisted his wrist, making him lose the gun.</p> <p> The &lsquo;zombie&rsquo; muttered in surprise, but he recovered quickly, seemingly unaffected by her attack. He lashed out with a kick to her ribs, making her double in pain, and before she could regain her balance, he plowed towards her. &nbsp;Cadee gasped as he slammed her against the wall; however, she also recovered quickly, and bracing herself against the wall, she kicked him with both feet, sending him flying across the alley. He crashed into some dumpsters, scattering their content all over the ground. She ran towards him, leaping into the air and rolling into a flying somersault to land on a legdrop on his groin.</p> <p> &ldquo;So, you&rsquo;re still male, aren&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; she laughed, as he doubled in pain beneath her. She beat the thing&rsquo;s face, listening to the unmistakable sound of a broken nose, and quickly got to her feet.</p> <p> &ldquo;And you are stupid <em>devojka</em>!&rdquo; a heavily accented voice sounded to her left. Cadee turned and paled when she saw the cannon of the other one&rsquo;s gun just a couple of feet from her chest. She had made a stupid mistake and not paid attention to the human creep; in her mind, he was already in that damn van. <em>*That&rsquo;s how you get killed, Cade,*</em> she thought.<em>*Being careless.*</em></p> <p> As she frantically contemplated possible moves, she saw the man cock the gun and smile. He was enjoying himself, and she decided to play on that.</p> <p> &ldquo;You know you don&#39;t frighten me, right?&rdquo; Cadee said with derision, looking at him in the eye.</p> <p> &ldquo;You should,&rdquo; he said, but she saw him falter half a second, puzzlement in his eyes, he had probably expected her to ask for mercy, act terrified. Stupid man, hadn&rsquo;t he seen her beat the crap out of his partner?</p> <p> She gave a step further, shortening the distance between them. She knew the risk, she had seen them shoot indiscriminately inside the club, but she was dead either way. &nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Your man there, he can&rsquo;t die.&rdquo; She said, signaling the fallen creep with a movement of her head. &nbsp;&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t die either,&rdquo; she lied, and watched his face go all baffled again. Another step and he would be at her reach, if she moved fast enough, maybe she could surprise him before he shot&hellip;</p> <p> But before she could say another word, a screeching mass of fur and claws jumped out of nowhere and landed on Drago&rsquo;s face, making him reach with his hands, involuntarily shooting the gun as he moved. Cadee ducked and rolled, hearing the bullets pass just inches from her for the second time of the night, and saw the zombie-thing convulse on the ground as they hit him instead. From behind the dumpsters, she watched as the man comically dealt with a furious silver cat who was firmly clawed to his head. &nbsp;</p> <p> He finally disentangled from the cat, and aimed at it, but the animal was too fast and got out of sight. Cursing, his face a mass of bleeding scratches, the man run to his van, all the time firing that automatic of his towards the alley. He didn&rsquo;t even once look at his partner on the ground.</p> <p> When Cadee saw him start the van and drive away, she got out of her shelter and approached the zombie on the floor. She kicked him; he didn&rsquo;t move, but she wasn&rsquo;t fooled. They had proved impossible to kill. He was probably just unconscious.</p> <p> It was just as well, somebody would find him out there; she could hear the police sirens finally approaching.</p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3476#comments Author:Ana Character:Cadee Cloud Character:Yves Location:Graveyard Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:58:32 +0000 Allyana 3476 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:51 Jasmin Reviews Security http://unlimitedi.net/node/3469 <p><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; page-break-before: always;"> With a sharp turn, Jasmin stormed away from the sound of downstairs, letting Lucinda Graves head down unopposed. Stupid, stupid woman. At least she could claim, honestly, that she had tried to stop her now. Her eyes turned to the other man, coming up the stairs, with a bit of purpose to his stride. For a moment, the vampire considered following him, then changed her mind. <span style="font-style:italic">Priorities</span>.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Pushing past Evalyn, she made directly for her office, slamming the door shut behind her as she reached to dial 911 on her phone. She heard a young operator answer the line, cutting said operator off mid-greeting. &ldquo;This is Jamin Taylor. No e on the end of the name. Need police and ambulance at Graveyard, address....&rdquo; she trailed off, slowing down just long enough to give the address, pausing a moment to think of how to describe the situation.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &ldquo;There are at least two people firing on the lower-level of the club,&rdquo; a gloved hand reached out to the controls for her monitors, flicking through security cameras. &ldquo;Yeah, there&#39;s injured people. Send ambulance. Back to work for me.&rdquo; She ignored the standard request to please stay on the line they were always trained to give, hanging up on the operator and placing the phone down on the desk.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span style="font-style:italic">Click. Click.</span></div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Jasmin stopped and stared. In the privacy of her office, she finally gave up, a pair of now-yellow eyes watching the security monitors. She clicked through, stopping on the upstairs one. Good. That was looking normal, and her security had, finally, moved over to the stairs. It was about time.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span style="font-style:italic">Click. Click.</span></div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> A low, deep, animalistic growl escape from her throat at the image that greeted her on the screen. Was that one really missing half his face? It was an injury that should have left him dead, and given that the remainder of his face looked human, she had to assume not vampire.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Something inside of her snapped, the glass in her hand sailing into the wall. Every instinct told her to go down there and give in, to join the battle; to feed and to kill these things that were invading the territory of a predator which would not brook interference on this level. The rational part of her mind answered back about the dangers and the need to hide, and conceal, to be that predator.</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> A minute later, the chair across from her desk stood in pieces, and the vampire began to calm. There. She had destroyed something; the urge was settled for the moment. Training before bed would also help. When she turned her eyes back to watch, she let the fantasies of destruction pass through her&hellip;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> &nbsp;</div> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Then she reached for her phone again to dial her lawyer. There would definitely be a Special Crimes Unit investigation at this point. Copies of security tapes could be made and reviewed later. Whoever managed to escape, found and dealt with. <span style="font-style:italic">Yes. I can get through this. It&#39;s not like I&#39;m getting any older.</span></div> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3469#comments Author:Kaarin Character:Jasmin Location:Graveyard Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:21:17 +0000 Kaarin 3469 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:49 Cadee watches http://unlimitedi.net/node/3468 <p><p> As soon as Logan left them, Cadee turned to Anne. &ldquo;Are you all right?&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;I should go help, but if you prefer I stayed...&rdquo;</p> <p> The other girl raised her head, she was scared, but she recovered quickly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m OK. It&rsquo;ll be safe here, I guess&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p> Cadee sneaked a look over the counter and at the fray; somehow it was a little more controlled, she didn&rsquo;t think they were in immediate peril. She looked back to Anne, and then to the other people who had also sought refuge behind the bar, the strawberry haired bartender included.&nbsp; She tried to reassure them. &ldquo;Yes.&nbsp; Those gunmen won&rsquo;t come behind here, you&rsquo;re safe.&nbsp; Just stay put. All of you.&rdquo; Then she squeezed her friend&rsquo;s hand, and added: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be back as soon as I can.&rdquo;</p> <p> Without another word, she jumped over the bar, and moved towards the dance floor. It was incredible how fast people could move when they were in panic, and how viciously. A lot of people were fighting their way to the door, not minding if they stepped over fallen bodies in their rush. Cadee could count at least half a dozen injured or dead people on the floor, and blood, lots of blood. Some other people were hiding too, behind tables, in the booths, beneath the stairs&hellip; it was utter chaos.</p> <p> Then she focused on the actual fight, and she had to look again. The gunmen were like anything she had ever seen, even if the low lightning of the nightclub didn&rsquo;t help much, she could clearly <em>see </em>them. There were only two, a small number for all the destruction they&rsquo;d caused, but then&hellip; they didn&rsquo;t seem to die. One of them looked like he was missing half his head and the other could have escaped &lsquo;<em>Shaun of the dead&rsquo;</em>, except he moved extremely fast for a zombie. They both did. <em>*&rsquo;Zombieland&rsquo;, maybe,* </em>she thought as she approached the fray.</p> <p> She watched Logan break the headed one&rsquo;s neck with ease and drop the body to the floor, only to see the <em>thing</em> rise again, as if he had just gotten a neck massage, leaving Logan to face the two freaks at once. She prepared to jump into action, throwing inbred caution to the wind, when she saw Sandoval put another bullet into the already performed body. A series of shots followed, as the cop, the freak and a seemingly normal one said hello to each other with their guns. Fortunately, the Latin cop got away unscathed, even if Logan had gotten stabbed. &nbsp;</p> <p> Damn, there was nothing she could do there. She couldn&rsquo;t risk showing any fighting expertise in front of Sandoval, she thought, as she continued to watch the fight from the cover of darkness. It wasn&rsquo;t easy, but Logan and Sandoval, together with some bouncers, managed to reduce the pseudo-zombies. Maybe she wasn&rsquo;t needed at all&hellip;</p> <p> They weren&rsquo;t the only ones in action, either, a sudden flash from the entrance way caught her attention and she saw a black woman and a man putting some order to the exiting people. Curious of where the flash had come, Cadee watched them with more attention, and she could see that the older man wielded a kind of walking stick/staff like a mage, parting the running people like Moses the Red Sea. Strange, watching a real mage do his mojo wasn&rsquo;t the most usual occurrence, but then, there was nothing <em>ordinary</em> about that night.</p> <p> At that point she noticed that, in the confusion, the only human gunman and one of the &lsquo;zombies&rsquo; were getting away. Making her mind, she started behind them towards the exit door to the back alley. Maybe she <em>was</em> needed after all&hellip;</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3468#comments Author:Ana Character:Cadee Cloud Location:Graveyard Storybuilding Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:12:09 +0000 Allyana 3468 at http://unlimitedi.net 23:08 An Hypnotic Encounter http://unlimitedi.net/node/3465 <p><p> <span lang="EN">Slowly, Meredith slid from the booth, checking the way was clear before bolting for the cover of the bar. She had to get out of here, preferably before the cops arrived if she had any hope of actually getting to work tonight. More importantly she had to find Gail and make sure she was okay. </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span style="font-style:italic">Beedle-Beep&hellip;</span> </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span style="font-style:italic">Beedle-Beep&hellip;</span> </span></p> <p> <span lang="EN">&ldquo;Oh, shit! <span style="font-style:italic">Shit!</span>&rdquo; Meredith cursed under her breath as she fumbled inside her purse, trying to find her pager. She quickly shut off the alarm and read the message.</span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><font face="Courier New" size="2"><font face="Courier New" size="2"><span style="font-style:italic">10-4 U? Meet ASAP.</span></font></font></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2">Gail. Thank-god. It was one of their standard messages when they got separated on a night out meaning she was fine and that they needed to hook up quickly. That last was kind of unnecessary considering, but Meredith&rsquo;s heartbeat slowed to a more reasonable pace just knowing that her friend was safe. </font></font></span></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">&quot;Hello, what treats are they hiding behind the bar? Trust Jasmin to save the good stuff for later.&quot;</span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Meredith&rsquo;s gaze shot upwards, meeting that of the very man she&rsquo;d been trying to avoid. Balthazar Romano leered down at her and she could almost feel the slimy trail of his gaze as it glided slowly up her legs before coming to rest on her tits. For a moment she was thrown, thinking that maybe he&rsquo;d noticed her listening in on his conversation. However, it quickly became apparent, as Meredith rose to her feet and Romano&rsquo;s ogling gaze fell to the hem of her dress as she held it from riding any higher, that he had other, more sordid thoughts occupying his mind. </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Dream on, Grandpa,&rdquo; she snorted dismissively as she replaced her pager in her purse, easily able to mask her unease behind genuine disgust. This man had not only just faced down a gun-toting criminal, he&rsquo;d struck up a deal with him. Ordering the murder of one of his own employees with as much concern as ordering a Big Mac with extra cheese. Now he was coming on to her while people were still screaming and sobbing all around them?! He really was a stone cold bastard. </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Romano laughed scornfully, &quot;I understand if you aren&#39;t interested, honey, but I am. And I get what I am interested in. Look into my eyes and tell me I&#39;m wrong.&quot;</span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Meredith did look, she gave him her iciest glare, the one that could freeze Satan&rsquo;s underpants. This guy wasn&rsquo;t just a murdering son-of-a-bitch, he was delusional in the extreme. He had to be like three times her age for a start! </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Only&hellip; the more she looked into his dark eyes, deep and bottomless like the depths of the ocean&hellip; the more she felt her determined resolve slip away. It was like having a warm bath after a tiring day, heating her body from the inside and slowly easing out any knots of resistance one by one. The more she continued to look into Romano&rsquo;s eyes, the more she felt like&hellip; maybe he was more handsome than she&rsquo;d given him credit for and maybe she wouldn&rsquo;t mind getting to know him better&hellip; a lot better actually&hellip;</span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">*What!? Snap out of it girl!*</span> The voice inside her head was practically screaming that something wasn&rsquo;t right. That&hellip; <span style="font-style:italic">fuck</span> he had to have slipped something in her drink when she wasn&rsquo;t looking! Meredith was usually so careful about that sort of thing, she never accepted a drink she hadn&rsquo;t seen poured and if she ever took her eye off her glass she&rsquo;d get rid of it. But&hellip; wait, hadn&rsquo;t she put down her drink when she&rsquo;d been at the buffet? It hadn&rsquo;t been for long but&hellip; perhaps long enough for someone to slip her a roofie? </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">And after all, if Romano was capable of sanctioning murder, date rape was probably how he got his kicks. </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;You&hellip; bastard!&rdquo; she spat, though even the act of speaking took too much concentration. He&rsquo;d drugged her, it was the only explanation for how she was feeling. Anger flared like a struck match. Her eyes burned with it while her fingers gripped the edge of the bar for support. </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">&quot;There, there, temper, temper!&rdquo; Romano&rsquo;s voice was like honey dripping off the edge of a knife. You could stop one, but not without starting another. &ldquo;Wouldn&#39;t you rather have a nice drink with me rather than fight me?&quot; </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">She did, actually. A drink sounded nice. Especially if Romano would be there. <span style="font-style:italic">*And then what? You know what he wants, just like the rest of them. You weren&rsquo;t big enough or strong enough to stop that happening before. But you are now.*</span></span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Meredith frowned and some of the last lingering flickers of her resolve returned. Blindly she grabbed one of the empty beer bottles on the bar and threw it at him. It missed by miles and smashed noisily on the floor. Romano looked faintly amused, his gaze intensifying as she reached for another bottle, her fingers halting in midair&hellip;</span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Suddenly rough hands grabbed Meredith and pulled her forcefully away from the eyes that threatened to sap her will. Instantly her mind began to clear, like stepping from a dark room into the sunlight&hellip;</span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">&quot;None of that, now, lady! There&#39;s been enough disruption for one night without starting more trouble.&quot; </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">A bouncer had hold of her by both arms and was dragging her towards an exit. Meredith could see another bouncer talking to Romano, occasionally throwing her an angry glare. &quot;Are you okay sir? Did she injure you? Do you want to press charges?&quot;</span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">&quot;Best be on your way, Ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; the man said in a gentler tone than he had used before. &ldquo;The party is over for tonight, I think.&rdquo; Releasing her arms he pointed to the exit. &quot;Watch your step.&quot;</span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN">Meredith nodded, casting one quick look back at Balthazar Romano as she stumbled uneasily towards the fire door, lit with a bright green EXIT sign. Pushing down on the bar, she heaved open the door and stepped out onto the metal staircase that was the emergency fire exit. The cool night air felt good, <span style="font-style:italic">really</span> good against her hot skin and she breathed it in deeply, clearing out the last of that woolly headed sensation. Whatever Romano had slipped in her drink it seemed to have worn off pretty fast. </span></font></font></p> <p> <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><span lang="EN">And had only made her more determined to uncover the truth. </span></font></font></p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3465#comments Author:David Author:Louisa Character:Balthazar Romano Character:Meredith Bell Location:Graveyard Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:34:28 +0000 Meredith Bell 3465 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:48 Logan and Pablo on the dance floor http://unlimitedi.net/node/3464 <p><p> Logan&rsquo;s eyes glanced back up the staircase scanning for any sign of Balthazar. If he couldn&#39;t see him then he felt reasonably sure he was safe from gunfire. So much for &lsquo;what bad could happen?&rsquo;, he swore silently, pushing his way past a group of hysteric party-goers.</p> <p> Time for plan &#39;B&#39;. If Logan couldn&rsquo;t be by his boss&rsquo;s side upstairs the only other option was to incapacitate the gunmen downstairs. Plus, the faster he could take down the psychos, the better chance Cadee and Anne had to get out of this bloodbath unscathed.</p> <p> With iron resolve, Logan pushed onwards towards the action. He felt like a salmon swimming upstream, his path considerably slowed by the wave of frenzied patrons doing their best to get away from the shooting.</p> <p> Pablo shoved his way upstream from the front door and ducked around a corner.&nbsp; He pulled the chain on his badge over his head and checked the .45.&nbsp; It wasn&#39;t a full clip but the remaining seven bullets should be enough as long as it didn&#39;t turn into a prolonged gunfight.&nbsp; A pretty girl with a panicked look got shoved into him.&nbsp; She saw the gun and nearly screamed but then she saw the badge. &quot;Thank God you are here! Two nut-bags came in the back and started shooting!&quot;</p> <p> Pablo listened to her politely while trying to see around her.&nbsp; He could hear shots at the back of the room which made her statement irrelevant. There was still a lot of activity inside and he needed to get closer.&nbsp; &quot;I have called for backup, lady, but I have to get you out of here. Head to the door.&nbsp; Keep down.&nbsp; Go!&quot;</p> <p> She nodded sheep-like and started to move when a bullet hit her square in the back.&nbsp; Her blood sprayed over the people in front of her.&nbsp; She laid there on the ground bleeding out while looking at him to do something. He had to pull his eyes away from the sight and did what he could.&nbsp; He kept his head down and charged in while saying a prayer...for both her and him.</p> <p> &ldquo;Watch out!&rdquo; Logan all but tackled a young man who was about to stray into the path of the newest round of gunfire. &ldquo;Look there&rsquo;s an exit there, go! Run now!&rdquo;</p> <p> With a terrified nod, the man mumbled something that resembled a &lsquo;thanks&rsquo; before charging to safety, which now provided Logan with a clear view of the shooters.</p> <p> For a moment, he stopped dead in his tracks, astonished at what lay before him &ldquo;Oh Fuck!&rdquo; One of the shooters was missing the better part of his face and for, all intent and purposes. There was no way he should even be alive. The other assailant, though not as disfigured as his jawless counterpart, had a huge gash running down his back, exposing his gruesome innards. Being employed by Balthazar had opened up a world of crazy, but these guys just topped the scale of weird. Of course, strange or not, Logan had a job to do and he wasn&rsquo;t about to let the crazed zombies get away with this.</p> <p> Fighting his natural instinct, Logan held back, waiting for a break in the gunfire &ndash; sure he was strong and fast, but he sure as hell wasn&rsquo;t bulletproof. Luckily, it didn&rsquo;t take more that a few seconds for the moment he needed and with one final, deep breath, he exploded into a full sprint, straight for the one with an intact head.</p> <p> Completely caught of guard by the speed of his attacker, Kosta had no time to raise any defense before the man connected with a flying shoulder tackle. Both Logan and revenant tumbled to the ground, the force of the impact sending the gun flying harmlessly out of the killer&rsquo;s hand.</p> <p> Quicker to recover, Logan pounced on Kosta, and wrapped his powerful arms around the villain&rsquo;s head, &ldquo;You piece of shit!&rdquo; Logan spat. With one violent twist, there was a sickening crack as he snapped the man&rsquo;s neck. Expecting the man to fall down dead, Logan rolled to a stance facing the faceless wonder.</p> <p> A voice behind him said, &ldquo;Not so fast pretty boy!&rdquo;</p> <p> it was Logan&#39;s to be caught by surprise. He was completely unprepared when the zombie jumped back to his feet.</p> <p> &ldquo;Sitting duck right over here, Zoran,&rdquo; Kosta yelled to his partner while struggling to hold the would-be hero in place.</p> <p> &quot;Hur ghur ghorgee,&quot; the grotesque tongue flapped over the ragged hole of the ghoul&#39;s throat as he raised his machine-gun to point at Logan.</p> <p> The sound of two loud shots rang out through the club.&nbsp; Logan flinched only to see Pablo Sandoval standing behind the bar wielding an automatic pistol in a tow-hand stance.&nbsp; Zoran&#39;s remaining eye looked down at the huge holes in his torso and his eyebrow knotted, &quot;Wiizzg wee,&quot;&nbsp; it said. And aimed at Pablo.</p> <p> Pablo yelped and ducked behind the bar as the glass, bottles, Lexan and neon lighting exploded around him.</p> <p> Logan twisted and managed to get an arm free long enough to grab his attacker&#39;s ear and he pulled, hard.&nbsp; The ear ripped free of the skull and the attacker let go of Logan long enough for him to hop aside.&nbsp; He was about to counter-attack when two burly security guys grabbed the leather-clad thug and began to wrestle him to the ground.</p> <p> Ensuring that his attacker was properly subdued, Logan tossed the dismembered ear and headed towards the remaining zombie. The cop had arrived in the knick of time to save his life, and it was time to repay the favour! <em>D&eacute;j&agrave; vue</em> For the second time this week he and Pablo found themselves fighting side by side, just another weird coincidence to add to the already bizarre chain of events.</p> <p> Logan was about to distract the headless gunman when circumstances did the work for him.&nbsp; A bright flash of light flooded the alleyway alongside the building.&nbsp; The strobing white light turning the dark abattoir of a dance floor into a macabre still-life of bodies and blood.&nbsp; Then the CRACK of lightning that made the window panes shake, crack, and shatter in places.</p> <p> Logan did not hesitate to take advantage of the distraction and with expert precision spun like tornado, his first leg kicking the gun out of the monster&rsquo;s hand, his next kick landing square in Zoran&rsquo;s chest.</p> <p> The beast garbled some form of inaudible protest, but Logan only continued his rampage. No one could argue that fighting a zombie in the middle of a New York party was definitely strange, and yet, the bodyguard couldn&rsquo;t help but feel a strange sensation of what he could only describe as &lsquo;rightness&rsquo; wash over him. The battle, the blood, the mayhem&hellip;it all seemed vaguely familiar and so oddly comforting.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll find some way to kill you, you Fucker!&rdquo; Logan roared, as he speared the ghoul to the floor and began to beat on the already pulverized head.</p> <p> Zoran, pinned by Logan&#39;s body, reached into a boot and pulled out a hunting knife which he sank deep into his attacker&#39;s leg.</p> <p> Even as Logan paused his assault momentarily a heavy studded boot kicked him hard in the shoulder to knock him to the ground. &quot;Don&#39;t beat Zoran like dat! His head not so good no more,&quot; a heavily accented voice said and punctuated with it a .50 cal. Desert Eagle pointed at Logan&#39;s head.</p> <p> Pablo rose from the bar in time to see the gun rise.&nbsp; Without hesitation he climbed to the top of the ruined bar and launched himself in a dive at Drago. Pablo had no idea who he was, but he was defending one of those...things.&nbsp; They weren&#39;t dead or rotten, so they weren&#39;t zombies.&nbsp; He didn&#39;t know what they were.&nbsp;</p> <p> The security guys had pretty thoroughly pinned the other one and the cops would deal with him soon enough.&nbsp; While behind the bar he&#39;d had just enough time to call dispatch to make sure that his men of the SCU Tactical were being sent rather than the usual NYPD boys.&nbsp; He&#39;d had enough time to specify what was going on in a vague sort of way since he wasn&#39;t sure what was going on himself at the moment.</p> <p> He hit Drago hard enough that he fell over and dropped his cannon, but it ended up with him, Pablo, the thing and Logan all sprawled among the corpses and wounded lying on the dance floor.&nbsp; Drago and Zoran scrambled towards the exit as Pablo crawled towards Logan.</p> <p> &ldquo;Shit,&rdquo; Logan winced, the pain running from his thigh through the rest of his body. The knife was buried deep and it was going to be a bitch taking it out. But out it needed to come, so with gritted teeth, and one deep breath, he tugged with all his might. &ldquo;Arrghggg Fuck!&rdquo; The agony was intense, and it clouded his vision, causing him to recognize Pablo only when he was close.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fine, and thanks for the save&rdquo; he huffed, applying pressure to the gaping wound. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to make sure those bastards don&rsquo;t get away&rdquo;. With fierce determination, the man struggled to his feet, only to have his leg give out half way up. Pablo was quick, catching hold of the man before he crumbled back to the floor</p> <p> <em>Geez, he&rsquo;s a lot heavier than he looks</em></p> <p> &ldquo;Forget me, they&rsquo;re getting away&rdquo; said Logan, pulling himself free of cop&rsquo;s grasp.</p> <p> Pablo held on despite Logan&#39;s protests.&nbsp; &quot;Let them go.&nbsp; I got a good look at the big one and the other guy isn&#39;t going to be able to hide for long with a head like that. There are people here who need help first, starting with you.&quot;</p> <p> Pablo lowered Logan into a booth and lifted his leg onto the table to examine the wound. &quot;&iexcl;Mi&eacute;rcoles!, This is a deep cut.&nbsp; You need to keep pressure on it.&nbsp; Can you feel your toes?...no nerve damage?&quot;</p> <p> Logan shook his head in pain and Pablo nodded. He went back into the dance floor to check for any other survivors he could help.</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3464#comments Author:David Author:Shaun Character:Juan Pablo Sandoval Character:Logan Location:Graveyard Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:37:29 +0000 mrdave2176 3464 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:50 Meredith Eavesdrops on Balthazar http://unlimitedi.net/node/3460 <p><p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">The gunfire woke up Meredith with a start. After the initial excitement at meeting Lucinda Graves, she&rsquo;d felt the effect of too many martini&rsquo;s, not to mention devouring her own body weight in free shrimp cocktail, take hold. Meredith had managed to steal herself a secluded corner seat in one of the booths to shut her eyes for five minutes. Of course she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew the music had stopped and terrified screams filled the club alongside the relentless explosion of gunfire. </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">Meredith had still been half asleep and half drunk too. She&rsquo;d remained seated, struggling to process the scene while everyone around her staggered about, whimpering in confused fear or sobbed while hiding under nearby tables. The untrained instincts of a newbie reporter kicked in several seconds later and Meredith reached for her purse, fumbling for her notepad. </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">&quot;Balthazar Romano, I am Drago. I came find out where find your man Carmine. I owe him. You tell me.&quot;</span></span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">She froze, her fingers tight around her book. Slowly she angled her head and peered over the back of the booth in the direction of the voice. Two men stood, one tall and lean in a black leather vest and tattoos that Meredith tried to memorise as she blindly sketched in her book. In his hand he held a hefty looking gun, not that she knew what kind it was aside from the fact that it was shiny and the guy held it like he knew exactly what to do with it. The other was older, framed in the glittering view of the New York skyline through the window behind him. He was dressed like almost every other guy that night, expensive looking suit and a crisp white shirt holding a wine glass in one hand. He also didn&rsquo;t seem particularly bothered by the fact that the other man was pointing his gun at him. </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-style:italic">*Balthazar Romano&hellip;*</span> That was the business man Magdalena DeLuca&rsquo;s boyfriend supposedly worked for. Carmine was hardly a common name either. So&hellip; this guy, Drago&hellip; was looking for Carmine Bocelli? Meredith frowned and slid back down into the booth to listen, her pen frantically scratching out notes. </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">The two men volleyed faintly cloaked threats at one another. How could Romano be so unfazed by all this? Drago had to be some kind of gang leader and from what he said, the gunmen downstairs were acting on his command. Plus he had a gun that could probably blow a man&rsquo;s head off. And yet Romano paid him the barest amount of interest, as though he were no more dangerous than an annoying fly invading his personal space. </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">Meredith was ready to dare another peek over the back of the booth when a sudden blinding flash of lightning erupted from outside followed by a heavy crack of thunder. <span style="font-style:italic">*What the fuck!?*</span> That was impossible, right? There hadn&rsquo;t even been a cloud in the sky when she&rsquo;d arrived. Drago seemed similarly confused, he flailed, knocking Romano&rsquo;s glass from his hand and grasped his face in clear pain. He must have been looking directly at the flash when it came. </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">&quot;Why would I cooperate with a lowly thug like you, Drago? What is in it for me?&quot;</span></span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">Again Romano seemed unfazed, by either the sudden lightning strike or the young thug trembling before him. Meredith wrinkled her nose as an unpleasant odour wafted from their direction - urine, but damn it absolutely reeked, she actually had to hold her nose and breathe through her mouth to stop from choking and giving away her presence. </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">And then Balthazar did something amazing. He actually put his arm around the other&rsquo;s shoulders like they were suddenly best buddies and when he spoke his voice was soft, kind, almost fatherly. <span style="font-style:italic">*What&hellip; what the hell is going on!?*</span></span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">&quot;I&#39;ll give you Carmine, but first you have to get a little red gem from him - it&#39;s about this big,&quot;</span> he gestured with hands and Drago nodded. Meredith&rsquo;s eyes widened in horror. <span style="font-style:italic">*Oh&hellip; shit!*</span> <span style="font-style:italic">&quot;Once you have the gem, kill him. I mean really kill him -- as in no coming back -- dead. If you can do that and bring me the gem and I&#39;ll make sure that you and your men have a prominent place in my organization.&quot;</span></span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-style:italic">*Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!!*</span> Meredith slid back down into the corner of the booth. Her pen frozen on the last word she&rsquo;d written. It couldn&rsquo;t be&hellip; could it? That tiny red stone she&rsquo;d found in Magdalena DeLuca&rsquo;s bedroom&hellip; but why? Why would a man like Balthazar Romano give a damn about that? It couldn&rsquo;t be worth more than a couple hundred bucks at most. Was that why Magdalena was murdered? And Bocelli&rsquo;s mother? </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">Meredith didn&rsquo;t even notice that Drago had gone. Her mind was too busy reeling out theories. This was bad. This was so fucking beyond bad she didn&rsquo;t even have a word for it. And yet&hellip; it was also the story she&rsquo;d been waiting for. The kind of story that could be the big break she&rsquo;d been dreaming of! Romano wanted Carmine dead, but why? For stealing some dumb little gem to give to his sweetheart? But then why was he so desperate to get the stone back if he just wanted to teach Bocelli a lesson? </span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">She waited while he heart pounded, her blood hammering in her ear drums with a mixture of terrifying alarm and gleeful excitement. But no one could link <span style="font-style:italic">her</span> to Carmine or Magdalena. No one had seen her enter the house and she hadn&rsquo;t told anyone about the stone. The only people who&rsquo;d seen her were the few she&rsquo;d talked to at Papa Vitale&rsquo;s - and she&rsquo;d been careful to give them a fake name. The only info they had would be a description, and that she was a student at Columbia. Another lie, and surely, dozens of people must have been around, asking questions. Right?</span></span></span></p> <p> <span lang="EN"><span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">Right. This guy had no way of finding her. But just to be on the safe side she&rsquo;d write up her story and get it to her editor at the NYU Tribune. And fast. </span></span></span></p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3460#comments Author:Louisa Character:Meredith Bell Location:Graveyard Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:38:58 +0000 Meredith Bell 3460 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:47 Alison ventures downstairs http://unlimitedi.net/node/3459 <p><p> Five minutes. All she&rsquo;d wanted was five minutes alone with her man, and she couldn&rsquo;t even have that.</p> <p> Alison&rsquo;s progress across the floor to the head of the stairs had been accompanied by little other than that thought. She barely noticed Jasmin and Evalyn as she passed them by, lost in her own ruminations. She couldn&rsquo;t help feeling bitter about the interruption to her balcony rendezvous with Pablo, but she also felt sorry for the poor man in the alleyway. He&rsquo;d seemed terribly burned, what she could see of him. And as for the rest of it &ndash; whoever had been involved had gone inside. Even as she put her foot on the first step she was fishing out her phone again, ready for whatever awaited her downstairs.</p> <p> That&rsquo;s when all hell broke loose. Shots rang out below, and someone screamed. Alison hesitated. Human instinct told her to run and hide, but her reporter&rsquo;s instinct told her to head down and get it all on HD video. The two sides warred momentarily, until a portion of her human side reminded her that Pablo was down there in the midst of that chaos. The gunfire and screaming and breaking glass began to crescendo, and she forced herself to start walking down those stairs once more.</p> <p> Keeping her grip on the railing let Jasmin focus on keeping herself under control. It was still tempting to head down there and begin snapping a few necks. No matter how fun that would be, however, the necessity of not getting caught loomed overhead. So instead she stood, listening and watching in a mix of anger and anticipation when the woman she knew as Lucinda started walking downstairs. She moved quickly, probably too quickly, laying a firm and cold hand on her shoulder.</p> <p> &quot;You may want to stay up here,&quot; she spoke in her chilly tones, the warmth and compassion still gone from her voice. &quot;Don&#39;t try to be a hero, Ms. Graves.&quot;</p> <p> Alison started slightly at the touch on her shoulder. She hadn&rsquo;t noticed anyone right behind her on the stairs. Turning to see that it was Jasmin she wondered how the woman had got there so fast &ndash; hadn&rsquo;t she just passed her by further back in the room? Those thoughts flitted by, filed away somewhere for later consideration. Right now she had other things on her mind.</p> <p> &ldquo;Oh believe me, I&rsquo;m not planning on doing anything stupid.&rdquo; She held up her phone which she&rsquo;d just thumbed over to video mode. &ldquo;When I&rsquo;m not writing novels, I&rsquo;m a reporter. I&rsquo;ll be hiding behind some heavy scenery, taking pictures. Ghoulish, perhaps, but it&rsquo;s that or cower up here. Besides,&rdquo; she added with a quick glance down the stairs, &ldquo;Pablo&rsquo;s down there.&rdquo;</p> <p> <span style="font-style: italic;">....I can&#39;t catch a god damned break, can I? The police and the press are both already here! Maybe Connie is secretly an EMS so she can have brought the medical services, too.</span> The thought flew through Jasmin&rsquo;s head, her eyes falling onto the video phone. She made a note to thank Evalyn for, once again, stopping her from doing something stupid. Video.</p> <p> She made one more attempt to stop the horrible headline, <span style="font-style: italic;">&lsquo;Celebrity gunned down in shooting&rsquo;</span>. &quot;Not necessary. We have security cameras.&quot; Still, she relaxed her grip now in case the other woman pulled away.</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure you do.&rdquo; Alison kept her tone polite but professional. &ldquo;However, I&rsquo;m sure you also understand that reporters like to get their material first-hand where possible.&rdquo; She half-turned, freeing her shoulder from Jasmin&rsquo;s cool fingers. &ldquo;And like I said; Pablo&rsquo;s down there. If he gets himself hurt, I want to be right there so I can tell him off. You probably ought to call the police and ambulance, though, if you haven&rsquo;t already. Now excuse me.&rdquo;</p> <p> Not caring whether Jasmin had a reply and not wanting to be held up on the stairs any longer, Alison continued her downward journey. A man was coming up the stairs. He wasn&rsquo;t running, as Alison would have expected of someone escaping the fray, but was climbing with a deliberate tread, a scowl on his face. Keeping her phone by her side she pressed the record button, knowing where it was from long practice, and surreptitiously angled it to film the man&rsquo;s ascent. Their eyes met briefly as she passed him by.</p> <p> &ldquo;Is dangerous down there, girly,&rdquo; he growled in heavily accented English.</p> <p> Alison ignored him, and he seemed unconcerned whether she heeded his warning or not. Keeping her video running, she took the last few stairs slowly, crouching behind the banister as much as possible while holding her phone just above the railing.</p> <p> What Alison saw sent icy tendrils of fear through her guts. Several people lay still on the floor, some twisted at unnatural angles. Blood was everywhere, spattering the walls and pooling on the floor, showing as dark stains in the electric blue lighting of the club. From where Alison crouched at the bottom of the stairs she could see several people hiding behind whatever furniture they&rsquo;d managed to find, some of it entirely inadequate for protection from bullets.</p> <p> She panned her camera around, zooming in on some of the grisly details. She&rsquo;d never be allowed to publish anything too graphic, but she had to get as much footage as possible. After her survey of the existing carnage, she finally focused on the section that her brain had been screaming at her to look at from the beginning. Two men stood to one side of the dance area, the muzzle flashes from their guns erupting in bright orange against the subdued lighting of the nightclub. Alison wished for some normal white light, knowing that she&rsquo;d see far more details that way, even though part of her was glad that the imagery was somewhat surreal and muted.</p> <p> A pair of gunshots sounded from further back and one of the figures stumbled. He didn&rsquo;t go down, however. <span style="font-style: italic;">Pablo, that was a lousy shot. Take them down before they get you!</span> She had to assume it was Pablo who&rsquo;d shot the man, at least. From here she couldn&rsquo;t see him at all. There were other people still moving about the room, not hiding. She focused her camera on them for a few moments.</p> <p> Two people &ndash; a young black woman and an older man &ndash; looked to have recently come in the front door of the club. Their backs were to Alison as they moved around the room. Too far away for them to hear her over the ruckus, Alison willed them to dive for cover, or better yet to turn and run back out the door.</p> <p> Another person was on the far side of the room, appearing from behind the heavy bar and circling around behind the two shooters. Alison zoomed in on the man&rsquo;s face and stifled a gasp of shock when she recognised him. Logan? What was he doing down here? <span style="font-style: italic;">Damn fool&rsquo;s going to get himself killed if he keeps on playing hero,</span> she thought to herself.</p> <p> Biting her lip, resigned to her role as observer and chronicler of events, Alison watched and waited to see what would happen next.</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3459#comments Author:Heather Author:Kaarin Character:Alison Scruggs Character:Jasmin Location:Graveyard Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:18:16 +0000 Heather 3459 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:45 Evalyn and Jasmin on the second level http://unlimitedi.net/node/3453 <p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; font-style: normal;"> Having just raised her drink with Jasmin, Evalyn was taking a sip, feeling the warmth of the alcohol and pleasure of the evening together when Yves suddenly interrupted her again.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">Evalyn....</span></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">Ta gueule! Let me enjoy myself.</span></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">I am serious. I &#39;ave a feeling your night is about to be ruined.</span></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">Putain! Je ne se soucie pas de ta jalousie!</span></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">Regardez!</span> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">He all but snarled back and Evalyn&#39;s mind was suddenly flooded with the vision of a fireball as if it were directly in front of her. Immediately she began choking on her drink, the warmth of it suddenly burning unpleasantly as it assaulted her sinuses and throat.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> &ldquo;<span style="font-style: normal;">Ah... Evalyn? Have you forgotten how to drink?&rdquo; Jasmin asked in mock concern at the same time Evalyn spotted Lucinda walking determinedly through the crowd.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <span style="font-style: normal;">Evalyn shook herself, ignoring the author for the moment and frowned back at Jasmin, unsure of what to say. The vampiress wasn&#39;t aware of her connection with Yves, but she&#39;d definitely want to know of anything that sounded remotely like &#39;fireballs&#39; happening around her club. &ldquo;I uh... s&#39;ink I need to get some fresh-&rdquo;</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">-Non! Zey&#39;re inside. I do not s&#39;ink you can &#39;andle zem.</span> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Evalyn suddenly got new, vague images of a bullet ridden man, and another who was decently char grilled, walking around. The sight of it made her feel ill.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <span style="font-style: normal;">Jasmin lifted her glass to finish her latest drink of the evening when preternatural hearing picked up the sound of gunfire coming from downstairs. The vampiress froze solid in place for several seconds, fighting to keep her countenance human, teeth griting. A moment later, she heard the sounds of Avenged Sevenfold come from the small pouch at her hip that held her cell phone, Emilie Autumn&#39;s voice coming up to greet them. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i>So let the record show that you murdered me in your coldest blood with your own two hands don&#39;t think no one understands it happens every day</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <span style="font-style: normal;">Fucking security. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <span style="font-style: normal;">The phone was out of its case and up to her ear, speaking low and dangerous. &ldquo;Yes! I can hear it! Don&#39;t ask me for fucking directions, just DO SOMETHING!&rdquo; The phone disappeared as the look on her face grew more dark, turning on her heel to start for her stairs down, Evalyn following her. &ldquo;Let&#39;s get dangerous,&rdquo; she mumbled in a voice icy and cold, devoid of any hint of compassion or mercy. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> &ldquo;<span style="font-style: normal;">I do not sink zat is the best idea.&rdquo; Evalyn muttered softly behind the vampiress. She&#39;d heard the shots from downstairs when they went off, and after Yves warning, it seemed less and less like a situation she wanted to involve herself in.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> &ldquo;<span style="font-style: normal;">Jasmin</span><span style="font-style: normal;">?&rdquo; She tried calling her friend back, but the vampiress was only increasing her pace as she closed on the stairs. Evalyn reluctantly followed, &ldquo;Jasmin? I do not s&#39;ink zese are your regular... fiends....&rdquo;</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"> <i><span style="font-style:italic">Do not worry about &#39;er! Stay away! Je vien!</span></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; font-style: normal;"> Jasmin stopped for a moment and turned back, giving a low, inhuman growl, barely noticable but still there. &ldquo;Someone comes in here, shooting, and I&#39;m supposed to do nothing why?&rdquo; She shifted her weight impatiently, as though waiting for an answer.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; font-style: normal;"> Evalyn froze. What should she do? Let human security handle it? There was little she had to fear herself of being killed unless they happened to have a <span style="font-style:italic"><i>stake</i></span> launcher. And if she did manage to kill one of the things that was down there, it&#39;d certainly send a strong message of <span style="font-style:italic"><i>&#39;don&#39;t fuck around in this establishment!&#39;</i></span>.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; font-style: normal;"> &ldquo;If you get shot in front of ze media and do not go down...&rdquo; Evalyn cursed inwardly as Jasmin snarled <span style="font-style:italic"><i>&ldquo;adrenalin&rdquo;</i></span> and turned savagely back down the stairs. Evalyn sighed, following cautiously behind as she slipping a knife from under her dress and muttered. &ldquo;Just be sure zat <span style="font-style:italic"><i>adrenalin</i></span> does not show on your face!&rdquo;</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; font-style: normal;"> Jasmin stopped dead in her tracks at that, the displeasure clear on her face as she reached and gripped the railing. Her friend raised a point, too good of a point. The rational part of her brain came up and began to take control. Vengence could come later. Or maybe a nice hunt. For the moment, however, this <i>was</i> the age of cell phone cameras, and she knew all too well what an <i>instant</i> of the demon fully coming forth could mean: even if she passed it off, it would draw SCU attention. <i>But the SCU is already here; I don&#39;t want to give them even more reason.</i> And as she stood and thought, the decision was made, nodding to her. &quot;Let security handle it....&quot; <i>Hey, maybe I&#39;ll get lucky and won&#39;t have to pay unemployment to that one I was going to fire!</i></p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3453#comments Author:Amanda Author:Kaarin Character:Evalyn Toussaint Character:Jasmin Character:Yves Location:Graveyard Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:26:59 +0000 Evalyn Toussaint 3453 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:41 Alison and Pablo on the Balcony http://unlimitedi.net/node/3452 <p><p>He knew she couldn't hear him over the sounds of the club. Ever closer he inched being careful to stay behind her, in her blind spot. She was leaning against one of the windows looking out over the city at night. Between the lights in the club and the angle of the glass even that wouldn't help her detect him moving ever closer to her. Tonight, Lucinda Graves was his prey. He would have her and she would not suspect him.</p> <p>When he was within inches of her he leaned over her bare shoulder. He placed his lips on the warm skin of her neck.</p> <p>She jumped slightly, letting out a small yelp at this sudden intrusion into her personal space. She guessed - hoped - who it might be, but she couldn't be sure. Without turning her head, she decided it would be fun to speculate.</p> <p>"Hmm, Sven?"</p> <p>He made a "mmm" sound against her neck. Not really an answer wither way. He knew the spot she liked right...there. He passed his tongue over her neck while surrounding it with little kisses.</p> <p>Alison shivered. Now she was sure.</p> <p>"Oh, of course. It must be Logan."</p> <p>He snorted derisively and nibbled lightly at the side of her neck while making growling noises. He set the strawberry mojito next to her on the windowsill.</p> <p>"Ooh, strawberry mojito. I'll bet that's a clue." Alison picked up the drink and sipped at it, enjoying the shivers Pablo was sending down her back. "Let's see... there was a man earlier tonight who brought me a couple of these. Now what was his name again? Pedro? No... Patrick? No, I give up, sorry."</p> <p>Pablo moved his mouth next to her ear, "Your lover, Juan Pablo has baited, hunted and captured you."</p> <p>He moved around in front of her and smiled, "Or at least cornered you. Sorry I've been so scarce all night. But you have been the queen bee in this hive of activity."</p> <p>"Oh, lover is it?" She grinned and moved a little closer, wrapping her free arm around his waist. "And I'm the one who should be sorry. I feel like I've abandoned you. But, you know, that's how these things tend to go." She gazed back at the party that was still going in full swing. "Thank god this place has quiet noooks and crannies like this."</p> <p>With her high heels, she was actually a little taller than Pablo, but even so she leant her head down and rested it on his shoulder and closed her eyes. It felt warm, comfortable - safe. She brushed her lips against his neck, in much the same manner he'd been doing to her moments before. "I hope you managed to stay entertained, at least."</p> <p>"That feels nice. Overfed and over excited, would be closer to the truth. And maybe more than a little drunk. I don't know what they are putting in these drinks but my last two have been bottled water. I practically had to show my badge to even get one of these bartenders to give me water."</p> <p>He held her hand and stroked her palm with his thumb. "It is fun to play dress-up, but I am feeling really out of place. I'd rather be outside. I found the balcony is really nice even though some smokers have been using it. It's less noisy than the club and the night air feels good."</p> <p>"I'm sure we can find a corner that's relatively smokeless. And it'll be nice to rest my ears from this music for a bit," she agreed. Clutching her mojito in one hand and holding onto Pablo's hand with the other, they strolled outside. The fresh night air felt good on her face and she breathed deeply. Only a couple of other people were out here at this point, and they were up the far end. They had most of the balcony to themselves.</p> <p>"Oh, yes, I wish I'd come out here earlier." She turned and kissed Pablo, a light peck. "Thanks for suggesting it." A few paces brought her to the railing and she leaned her back against it, revelling in the respite from the demands of the evening.</p> <p>He settled in to enjoy the moment. Here with his arms around her looking down on the street he felt comfortable. <span style="font-style:italic">I could get used to this,</span> he thought.</p> <p>Shouting drifted up from the street, peppered with gunfire. It was loud and Pablo glanced over the railing to see what it was. <span style="font-style:italic">A cop is never off-duty,</span> ran though his mind. Then a blast of fire blew out of the alley and into the street. Pablo instinctively pulled Alison away from the railing.</p> <p>Even as Pablo tugged on her arm, Alison twisted to see what was going on. <span style="font-style:italic">A reporter is never off-duty,</span> she thought, remembering her words to Pablo in Slàinte. Her first thought was that it was some sort of drunken domestic dispute, but the rattle of bullets and the <span style="font-style:italic">whoomph</span> sound as fire erupted along the alleyway put paid to that. She rooted around in her purse and pulled out her phone, setting it to video as she stepped back towards the edge of the balcony.</p> <p>Pablo glanced around. It was only twelve feet to the ground, give or take. It was the fastest way. "Stand back," he said in his best cop voice and climbed over the railing. He slid over the edge and used the ledge to dangle towards the street. Hanging this way reduced the drop to only six feet or so.</p> <p>Alison stared down at Pablo, the video recording the dying fires in the alleyway, the retreating figures of two people racing into the club downstairs, and the dangling figure of Detective Sandoval hanging by his fingertips off the ledge. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed in a stage whisper.</p> <p>He landed lightly on his feet, pulled out his badge and reached for his gun. Reached for and realized he didn't have it. He looked up at her leaning over the railing with her phone pointed at him, "Trying to get myself killed while saving lives. Please stand back so I don't have to worry about you so much."</p> <p>He peered into the alleway cautiously. Perhaps even more cautiously than he would have if he had had a gun with him. From here he could see a charred corpse and nothing else. Whoever had been running away had gone inside. He spared one last glance back at Alison and then stepped into the alley.</p> <p>The charred body stirred and swore vehemently, "Jebem ti majku! Jebem ti miša! And jebem ti kuću poganu!"*</p> <p>As it stood, blackened clothing and flesh sloughed off revealing bare muscles and bone. Pablo saw a pistol, no longer supported by his smoldering pants, drop to the ground. The charred man wasn't interested in the pistol so much as hopping around angrily so Pablo snatched it up and pointed it at him. "Police! Up against the wall, charcoal man."</p> <p>Alison leaned out as far as she could. It was difficult to see what was going on, but Pablo's words rang out loud and clear. "If someone's hurt, shouldn't you call an ambulance?" she called out. "I'm coming down."</p> <p>Putting away her phone for the moment Alison turned, abandoning her mojito on the balcony ledge, and returned to the noise and hubbub of the party. Now all she had to do was make her way across the expanse of the room without being waylaid so she could get downstairs to where Pablo was. If she'd been dressed any other way, she probably would have taken Pablo's route, but that wasn't an option for her tonight. Putting on her determined face she ploughed through the partygoers, most of whom were thankfully too drunk at this point to pay her too much attention.</p> <p>Pablo was debating using his belt to tie up this ... whatever this was. He looked like a barbecued corpse and smelled terrible. But he was still moving and talking and swearing. Pablo didn't know what "Da bi šel v pizdo materno!"** meant, but it didn't sound good.</p> <p>Suddenly there were sounds of gunfire from inside the club. Pablo glanced up towards the balcony, hoping that Alison hadn’t left yet. "Da bee sel peez doh materno!" he said, or something close to it, and ran back into the lower level of the club.</p> <p><span style="font-style:italic">*Fuck your mother! Fuck your rat! And fuck your infidel house!<br /> **If only I could crawl back into my mother’s cunt.</span></p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3452#comments Author:David Author:Heather Character:Alison Scruggs Character:Juan Pablo Sandoval Location:Graveyard Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:49:05 +0000 Heather 3452 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:37 Attack in the Alley http://unlimitedi.net/node/3444 <p><p> Ricky Chiang stood five feet away from Chiedra, talking to two young women dressed nearly identically in red pleather miniskirts paired with red and black pleather corsets.&nbsp; The girls were both short, but teetered on spiked heels.&nbsp; Ricky had one hand on the bare shoulder of the brunette of the pair, and he was leaning over towards the blonde, whispering in her ear.&nbsp; Both girls held martini glasses half-full of some sort of pinkish liquid.&nbsp; Chiedra watched the scene carefully, while taking in the surrounding room deliberately.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;The Obsidian blades?&rdquo; a familiar, cultured voice dripped sarcasm from just beyond Chiedra&rsquo;s left shoulder.&nbsp; &ldquo;Really, Ki, don&rsquo;t you think that&rsquo;s a bit much even for you.&nbsp; I mean, those guys really are scum? Dangerous, criminal scum.&rdquo;</p> <p> Without turning her head, Chiedra sighed softly.&nbsp; &ldquo;Niall, what are you doing here?&rdquo;</p> <p> Niall Tiergnan, dressed in a dark brown oxford shirt and even darker brown dress pants, stood beside Chiedra, watching Ricky Chiang make time with two obviously underage girls.&nbsp; He shook his head.&nbsp; &ldquo;Not protecting a sleaze while he prepares to perpetrate statuory rape, so obviously not the same thing you are, my girl.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Please, Niall, do we have to do this again?&rdquo; Chiedra asked, exasperation evident in her tone.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m working.&nbsp; I know you don&rsquo;t approve of my work, but I am working now.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;So, you are working for Chiang, then?&rdquo; Niall asked, disapproval dripping from every word.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Yes, I am,&rdquo; Chiedra replied, moving forward as Ricky started to walk away with a girl tucked under each arm.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; Niall moved with her.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;As we&rsquo;ve already established, I&rsquo;m doing my job,&rdquo; Chiedra replied, staying only a few feet behind her charge as he headed towards the crowded stairwell.</p> <p> Rolling his eyes, Niall trailed Chiedra, who trailed Ricky and his new &ldquo;friends&rdquo; as they fought their way through the crush of people at the party.&nbsp; When Ricky hit the bottom floor, he veered towards the back of the building.&nbsp; Chiedra stayed with him, her eyes moving constantly from side to side, watching and waiting for any sign of trouble.&nbsp; As they moved, Niall kept his lecture going.</p> <p> &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you care about what these people represent?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t there some better way for you to make a living?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p> <p> When they reached the door into the back alley behind the club, Chiedra paused to glare at Niall.&nbsp; &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked this to death, Niall.&nbsp; You know I love you, but I am not going to stop doing what I do.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ve told you that, many, many times.&rdquo;</p> <p> At that moment, Chiedra&rsquo;s sensitive hearing picked up the sound of running feet coming from the head of the alley.&nbsp; Instincts suddenly on alert, Chiedra turned to the sound.&nbsp; She was momentarily stunned at the sight that greeted her.&nbsp; Two men ran down the alley towards Ricky and the girls, who had yet to realize anything was amiss.&nbsp; However, Chiedra had never seen men quite like these before.&nbsp; The one in the lead appeared to be riddled with bullet holes, and the man behind him was in even worse shape.&nbsp; His head was basically missing.&nbsp; It looked sort of like someone had attacked the man with a shotgun and blown the upper right side of his face away.&nbsp; He had a gaping hole where his right eye and the right side of his forehead should have been.&nbsp; Chiedra took a moment to process that fact.&nbsp; By all rights, these two men shouldn&rsquo;t be standing, let alone running towards Ricky, brandishing two rather lethal looking knives, and rather mad, bloodthirsty grins.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Behind me, Ricky!&rdquo; Chiedra shouted, jumping in front of the young man and pushing him behind her, towards the door.&nbsp; The two girls followed him, screeching when they caught sight of what was coming towards them.</p> <p> &ldquo;What the fuck?!&rdquo; Ricky yelled, craning his head around Chiedra&rsquo;s shoulder to see what she had seen.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Get back inside!&rdquo; Niall shouted to the screaming women, as he stood next to Chiedra and brandished the staff he&rsquo;d been leaning on.&nbsp; &ldquo;Of course, I had to check my damn coat.&rdquo;</p> <p> Despite the seriousness, Chiedra grinned.&nbsp; &ldquo;Come on, old man,&rdquo; she joked, &ldquo;you can make it without your security blanket, right?&rdquo;</p> <p> Niall grinned fiercely back at her, and gestured tightly as he pushed the staff out towards the advancing attack.&nbsp; &ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t bested me yet, <em>little </em><em>girl</em>.&rdquo;</p> <p> Niall shouted a strange word and a blast of hot air shot out from his hands to blow the men back, making a terrible racket as it did so.&nbsp; Trash cans, and other debris in the alley flew with the harsh breeze.&nbsp; The two attackers tumbled backwards, one flying back into a sharp metal pole protruding from the far wall.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Not bad,&rdquo; Chiedra moved forward as the second man struggled to stand.&nbsp; She kept an eye on the one stuck to the pole though, as they appeared hard to kill.&nbsp; The man on the pole was the onemissing most of his head.&nbsp; She faced the man whose body was peppered with a pattern of holes as he lumbered to his feet.&nbsp;</p> <p> Niall glanced quickly back at Ricky and his &ldquo;girlfriends&rdquo;.&nbsp; The girls were sobbing and shrieking.&nbsp; &ldquo;Take them back inside,&rdquo; Niall ordered.&nbsp; Ricky, eyes wide with disbelief, nodded dumbly.&nbsp; He grabbed the two girls and led them back into the building.&nbsp;</p> <p> Meanwhile, Chiedra had begun to fight with &ldquo;bullet-holes&rdquo;.&nbsp; He charged her, and she dodged, reaching out with her power to grab at him with solid tendrils of shadow that flowed out of the dark edges of the alley.&nbsp; The tendrils wrapped around his body and pulled him towards the nearest wall.&nbsp; The man skewered on the pole was slowly pulling himself off the offending appendage as Chiedra moved towards her opponent again.&nbsp; &ldquo;Headless&rdquo; was reaching into his jacket, pulling out a gun.</p> <p> &ldquo;Look out, Ki!&rdquo; Niall shouted, throwing out a hand with a silver bracelet made of interlocking shields.&nbsp; He spoke softly in the strange tongue again, and a silvery light enveloped Chiedra as &ldquo;Headless&rdquo; fired his gun.&nbsp; The bullets bounced off the shield of force and the man turned his head towards Niall, making, &quot;Ooo &#39;i roo&rdquo; sounds.</p> <p> &ldquo;Great! How do you stop these things?!&rdquo; Chiedra shouted in frustration as the gun was aimed at her mentor.&nbsp;</p> <p> &ldquo;Beats me,&rdquo; Niall replied.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not even sure what these things are.&rdquo;</p> <p> Chiedra dropped as the monster in front of her took a swing.&nbsp; She dropped to the ground and swept her leg out, landing a kick at the side of the man&rsquo;s legs.&nbsp; He stumbled, the tendrils of shadow holding him as he struggled and nearly fell over.&nbsp; Chiedra came up with a long, thin, lethal looking stiletto in her hand.&nbsp; Niall had a moment to wonder where she&rsquo;d concealed the weapon, before he saw that &ldquo;Headless&rdquo; was finally free of the pole and was moving towards him.&nbsp; Swearing under his breath, Niall began to prepare a larger spell.&nbsp;</p> <p> Chiedra was beginning to feel weak as the bullet-ridden hulk struggled against the shadow bonds she&rsquo;d formed.&nbsp; She had to drop the tendrils if she was going to be able to finish this fight and hope to win.&nbsp; It was always this way.&nbsp; Her shadow powers drained her quickly.&nbsp; Wishing she was just a bit stronger, Chiedra dropped the shadows as she moved to attack the monster before her with the knife.&nbsp; She was unprepared for how quickly the creature was able to recover when he was free.&nbsp; She misjudged his agility and found herself struggling as one of his meaty hands grabbed hold of her long ponytail.&nbsp; Not for the first time, Chiedra cursed herself for keeping the hair, an unnecessary affectation for someone who regularly engaged in hand-to-hand combat, but Niall had always kept it long when she was growing up, and&hellip;</p> <p> &ldquo;Niall!&rdquo; she shouted, struggling to free herself as tall, nasty, and undead pulled her closer.&nbsp; Niall&rsquo;s head swung round, and he snarled.&nbsp; He ran towards Chiedra and her attacker, leaving his foe to his own devices for a few minutes.&nbsp;</p> <p> As soon as Niall had moved away, a man stuck his head in the end of the alley and shouted, &ldquo;Zoran, Miro! Quit screwing around! The boss says we got to get inside!&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Headless&rdquo; looked from where Niall and Chiedra struggled against his partner to the head of the alley and then shrugged.&nbsp; &ldquo;Waa&rsquo;,&rdquo; he replied, moving towards where the third man had stood when he called out.&nbsp;</p> <p> Niall reached Chiedra and her opponent, who had pulled the young woman off her feet by her hair so that only the toes of her boots scraped the ground.&nbsp; Cheidra&rsquo;s face was contorted with pain and fury.&nbsp; She reached behind her, slashing blindly with her knife but failing to make contact.&nbsp; Pointing his staff straight out, Niall called another strange word and a shaft of light streamed out from the end, burning the hand the gripped Chiedra&rsquo;s hair like a laser and causing her assailant to howl as he dropped the girl.&nbsp; Chiedra tumbled to the ground and rolled a few feet away, breathing hard as she lay on the ground, facing up into the night sky.&nbsp; Niall turned back to the perforated attacker and shook his head.&nbsp; &ldquo;Enough is enough!&rdquo; he shouted.&nbsp; Drawing himself up to his full height, Niall once more extended his staff, counterbalancing it with his empty hand.&nbsp; He shouted, his voice nearly hoarse, one more alien word and a blast of fire flew from between his raised staff and his outstretched hand.&nbsp; The fire flew out to the man before him like a wave, igniting the paper and other flammable trash in the alley as it blasted through the attacker and left him smoldering against the far wall.&nbsp;</p> <p> From the ground near his feet, Niall heard Cheidra say very softly, &ldquo;That&rsquo;ll do, pig.&nbsp; That&rsquo;ll do.&rdquo;</p> <p> Chuckling, Niall helped Chiedra to stand and with a significant glance between them, they raced into&nbsp; the club just as the first of the shots sounded from inside.</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3444#comments Author:Kristen Character:Chiedra Character:Niall Tiergnan Location:Graveyard Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:27:20 +0000 Firefly 3444 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:31 Chiedra at work http://unlimitedi.net/node/3443 <p><p> A long, rolling laugh erupted from the handsome, dark-haired man seated only a few feet in front of her, at a small table near the back of the dark, crowded club.&nbsp; Shifting her weight slightly from one foot to the other, Chiedra stood with her back to the wall, looking out over the table and into the crowd.&nbsp; Her eyes scanned the people milling about continuously as she watched for any trouble that might come her way.&nbsp; Ricky Chiang was an important young man, particularly to his father, Tommy, and as such his safety was important as well.&nbsp;</p> <p> The Chiangs pretty much ran things in Chinatown nowadays, and as such, the family had an enemy or two who might at any time come crawling out of the woodwork.&nbsp; That was the exact reason Tommy was paying Chiedra so much to stand in the background of this soiree dressed in skintight black leather and just watch.&nbsp; She was Mr. Chiang&rsquo;s insurance policy that his spoiled little prince would come home safe and sound after yet another evening of drunken debauchery.&nbsp; Chiedra had been guarding the heir apparent to the Obsidian Blades dynasty for almost three months now.&nbsp; In that time, she&rsquo;d watched him pickling his liver on a nightly basis and shopping for the STD of the month as well, but she&rsquo;d yet to see any real danger.&nbsp;</p> <p> As far as Chiedra was concerned, Tommy Chiang thought a little too highly of the value of both his spoiled, arrogant first born son, and as an extension of that, of himself.&nbsp; But who was she to question or judge? Chiang&rsquo;s money was just the way she liked it, large and timely.&nbsp; As long as he kept paying her, she&rsquo;d keep wasting her time and talent standing behind this blowhard while he wasted daddy&rsquo;s ill-begotten gains on booze, drugs, and women.&nbsp; Funny, actually, that.&nbsp; Ricky was spending the family wealth on the very things that had generated it to begin with.&nbsp;</p> <p> Chiedra&rsquo;s waist length black hair was tied up in a tight knot at the top of her head.&nbsp; The glamour spell attached to the silver charm bracelet she wore made her skin appear as a warm chocolate brown, and tinted her eyes to a similar shade.&nbsp; Her tattoos were invisible in this guise, as well.&nbsp; For tonight&rsquo;s launch party, she&rsquo;d dressed in skin tight leather, a catsuit with low-heeled black leather boots adorned with matte silver buckles.&nbsp; Similar buckles and zippers decorated her clothes.&nbsp; She felt the overall effect was just dominatrix enough to blend in, while still allowing her the freedom to move should things get hairy.&nbsp;</p> <p> Chiedra&rsquo;s attention was drawn to her charge when he reached out and hooked an arm around her leather clad waist, sidling a little too close to her body for comfort.&nbsp; She sneered down at him as he winked lasciviously at his tablemates.&nbsp; &ldquo;She&rsquo;s here to guard my body, right, boys,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; &ldquo;You really need to get a little closer to do the job right, Chiedra.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m good right where I am, Mr. Chiang,&rdquo; Chiedra&rsquo;s voice was low and smoky.&nbsp; She felt the eyes of all the psychophants at the table as they watched Ricky run his hand up and down the side of her body.&nbsp; Chiedra barely restrained the urge to throw the creep across the room.&nbsp; &ldquo;Being mauled wasn&rsquo;t in the job description as <em>your father </em>explained it to me.&rdquo;</p> <p> The pointed reminder about who really paid the bills was meant to subtly put Ricky back in his place.&nbsp; Chiedra didn&rsquo;t want to alienate the kid.&nbsp; His father&rsquo;s money was good, and he was just overindulged enough to make her life difficult.&nbsp; On the other hand, Chiedra did have a real job to do, and while she was distracted by Ricky taking liberties, that job wasn&rsquo;t getting done.&nbsp; The other men at the table chortled at Chiedra&rsquo;s put-down.&nbsp; Chiedra saw Ricky&rsquo;s eyes narrow as he looked at them, and the hand on her waist tightened painfully.&nbsp; She rolled her eyes inwardly, even as she was carefully extracting herself from Ricky&rsquo;s inappropriate embrace.&nbsp; *Tactfully,* she thought before she spoke again, her anger simmering just beneath the surface.&nbsp; *This job will be enough to pay for that consultation with Brisbane.&nbsp; He may actually have the power to make something happen this time.*</p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, Ricky,&rdquo; she said, in a simpering tone.&nbsp; &ldquo;I just want to keep you safe.&nbsp; No one wants anything bad to happen.&nbsp; And you&rsquo;re so distracting, I can&rsquo;t keep my mind on the job.&nbsp; Couldn&rsquo;t you sit back down with your friends and enjoy the party, please?&rdquo;</p> <p> Ricky smirked at the other men.&nbsp; He deliberately rubbed his body against hers as his hand caressed her ass.&nbsp; Chiedra seethed silently, while maintaining an appropriate look of chagrin.&nbsp; &ldquo;Maybe next time, sweetheart,&rdquo; Ricky replied.&nbsp; He slid back into his seat, beckoning for a passing waiter to stop for another round of drinks.&nbsp; Chiedra leaned back against the wall, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, not only to avoid being noticed by potential hitmen, but also to avoid any more amorous attention from the asshole she&rsquo;d been hired to protect.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/images/chiedras party clothes(1).jpg" style="width: 126px; height: 137px;" /></p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3443#comments Author:Kristen Character:Chiedra Character:Ricky Chiang Location:Graveyard Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:23:03 +0000 Firefly 3443 at http://unlimitedi.net 22:30 Jasmin and Evalyn http://unlimitedi.net/node/3441 <p><p> Jasmin made her way through the crowd, not for the first time. Playing hostess through the evening went as it always did: you greeted, you talked, you monitored everything; nobody realized the work that went on even during. Half of her evening was spent directing staff to replenish this table or that one, or sometimes, getting involved making sure that a fight failed to happen. It meant drinking enough to become slightly tipsy, and in low moments like this, getting lost in more pleasant memories.</p> <p> In this case, memories of having another young woman sat next to her, who only after they had to get up, did she realize had managed to take charge of virtually the entire conversation, save for inviting her to dinner. That, she considered a minor victory, but couldn&#39;t help feel that she must have been slipping. Especially if -</p> <p> &ldquo;Oh, I&#39;m terribly sorry,&rdquo; she said as she ran straight into another person, stopping, staring, and look turning into a genuine smile. &ldquo;Evalyn, my friend! So glad you managed to get here tonight. How have things gone so far?&rdquo;</p> <p> Evalyn only had a moments irritation at being bumped before noticing the familiar face, then beamed in delight as she turned to regard her. &ldquo;Jasmin! Look at you!&rdquo; she said as she opened her arms to hug her friend and plant a kiss on either cheek, &ldquo;I would say zat sings are going fairly well.&rdquo; She smirked, glancing aside to where Sebastian was standing. On Jasmin&#39;s approach he gave a short, respectful bow. &ldquo;I &#39;ave to say, even when zey are not working, some of your staff are most accommodating.&rdquo; Evalyn winked at the man and turned back, ignoring Yves who was clawing at the back of her mind. &ldquo;But what about you? You look... different. What &#39;as &#39;appened! You must tell me!&rdquo;</p> <p> She felt almost a bit overwhelmed, and probably looked it. Having to overcome her metabolism was one thing; but after a certain point... <i>Ok, time to stop drinking for tonight.</i> Still Evalyn received the same kisses on either cheek in return, with her taking a quite relaxed look. &ldquo;Patience, my dear. I have a potential business partner here for you you should at least be aware of,&rdquo; pointing out Balthazar across the room.</p> <p> &ldquo;And, a potential job for you,&rdquo; she noted, mind racing with those details again, as it had, off and on. She would sort that out when she was sober, though now her smile grew more genuine, the implications gone. &ldquo;I also have a date for tomorrow night, now.&rdquo;</p> <p> Evalyn glanced briefly at the gentleman Jasmin had indicated across the room, but at her friends last sentence, she lost any interest in potential work.</p> <p> Smirking she gave Jasmin a playfully stern look over her glass, &ldquo;You sink I care to &#39;ear about work when you &#39;ave a date?&rdquo; she quirked her eyebrow and gestured absently to Sebastian who was still standing somewhere nearby, &ldquo;Sebastian, dear, would you please get me anozzer drink? I fear I &#39;ave nearly finished zis one.&rdquo; She wasn&#39;t watching to see if he obeyed her request, but she did inhale sharply as he stepped up close behind her to whisper assent in her ear and promise other things for the evening.</p> <p> She watched him leave, hungry to have him back again, gripping her upper arms, but she took the opportunity she&#39;d created to focus on Jasmin who was quirking an eyebrow of her own at the little exchange that took place. &ldquo;&#39;Ee is an excellent bartender.&rdquo; Evalyn said simply to explain herself, then shook her self. &ldquo;But tell me about you! Who is zis date?&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Yes, he is. Not as good as the girl that I have to make... these,&rdquo; she proclaims, holding up the glass with the remains of the latest Sling in it. She didn&#39;t fight the memory returning of earlier in the evening, and the promise of another night to come. &ldquo;Her name is Connie. She&#39;s Lucinda Graves&#39; agent... I suppose I should actually <i>read</i> Lucinda&#39;s books, now, shouldn&#39;t I?&rdquo;</p> <p> Jasmin let the thought trail off, finishing off her drink with a quite pleased look to her. &ldquo;Bold, direct, and I realize this now, apparently able to direct me when I&#39;ve been drinking. And also, a <i>skilled</i> kisser,&rdquo; this last she added more softly, and a bit conspiratorially. &ldquo;Tell you what. Come by my place... evening after next. Can tell you how it went, and then, we plan business.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Connie...&rdquo; Evalyn repeated the name thoughtfully, then smiled, &ldquo;I actually met Lucinda Graves earlier zis evening, but I did not see any Connie wiz her,&rdquo; her grin turned teasing, &ldquo;zat would not &#39;ave been, per&#39;aps, because you &#39;ad already stolen &#39;er by zis stage?&rdquo;</p> <p> Jasmin got a quite thoughtful look to her. &ldquo;You know, I&#39;m not sure which of us stole the other... just that we spent some time getting along.&rdquo; She cleared her throat a bit as she inwardly reminded herself that it had certainly been a while since she had a shot. &ldquo;It is so good that you could make it, though. Aside from one or two minor inconveniences? This night seems to be going quite perfect. Nothing could ruin it at this point.&rdquo;</p> <p> &ldquo;Oui,&rdquo; Evalyn agreed, raising the remains of her drink. The evening was proving to be quite a pleasure indeed, and there was still more to look forward to!</p> <p> <i>I could ruin some sings for you, Eevie.</i></p> <p> <i>Why Yves! I can not imagine what you are talking about.</i></p> <p> Evalyn&#39;s grin deepened as she toyed with Yves jealousy and continued to speak aloud- &ldquo;To perfect nights and perfect companies!&rdquo;</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3441#comments Author:Amanda Author:Kaarin Character:Evalyn Toussaint Character:Jasmin Character:Yves Location:Graveyard Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:24:31 +0000 Evalyn Toussaint 3441 at http://unlimitedi.net 21:27 Sven and Helen http://unlimitedi.net/node/3438 <p><p>Sven was in his element. As someone who appreciates the female form in all its variety, he was indulging in a veritable smorgasbord tonight. The evening had started out well enough with some licensed groping of the voluptuous author, and had gone from strength to strength since then. So far four women and one man had given him their phone numbers, entirely unsolicited. Right now he was holding court with three luscious young women who hung on his every word, his height advantage affording him an incredible view down their cleavages. Everywhere he looked he could see flashes of thigh, bosoms bulging out of tightly-laced corsets, and alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. All that remained was for him to figure out who he’d end up bedding tonight. </p> <p><span style="font-style:italic">That’s when he saw her. Dark eyes, dark hair, pale skin. She seemed to glow from within as she crossed the room, her eyes fixed hypnotically on his as she approached. The noise of the party around him faded into the background and all he could hear was his beating heart. He wanted her. He needed her. Even if it meant his very life.</span></p> <p>“I’m sorry, what?” </p> <p>The girl beside him gave an exasperated sigh. A copy of <span style="font-style:italic">Darque Desires</span> lay open in her hands. “The book, silly. Weren’t you listening?” She stabbed a finger at a line in the book and read aloud. “<span style="font-style:italic">She seemed the very essence of perfection, and as she drew near the scent of lilies wafted over him, enveloping his senses. Unable to break away from her gaze, in his mind’s eye he envisioned them entwined together, could all but feel the weight of her breasts against him.</span>” The girl paused as she read ahead a few lines, silently. “Wow, this gets pretty hot. Is this the guy that’s meant to be you?”</p> <p>Sven dragged his eyes away from an approaching woman who uncannily resembled the description that had just been read out to him and glanced down at the girl who’d been reading. She looked suddenly very mousy and plain in comparison to the dark-haired beauty he’d been watching. “Hmm? No, no. I’m supposed to be the vampire guy. He’s not in this bit. This is one of his vampire women who’s been sent to seduce the cop and kill him.”</p> <p>“Oh.” The girl sounded disappointed, and started flipping through the pages. “Well, where do I find <span style="font-style:italic">your</span> sex scenes?”</p> <p>Rolling his eyes, Sven excused himself from the group of girls, two of them glaring daggers at the one with the book. As he left them, he heard the exchange behind him.</p> <p>“Sex scenes,” scoffed one.</p> <p>“Yeah,” the other chimed in. “We could have had the man himself, you stupid…”</p> <p>Their voices blended with the hubbub of a dozen other conversations and the constant <span style="font-style:italic">thump, thump</span> of the music. The woman he’d been watching hadn’t exactly made a beeline for him, but she’d definitely been getting closer. He intercepted her somewhere near the middle of the room. She stopped, gazed up at him with one hand on her hip and seemed to appraise him. </p> <p>“Hi,” he said. “I’m Sven Tonn–”</p> <p>“Yeah, I know who you are,” she interrupted in a brazen New York accent that was completely at odds with the way she looked. It took a little of the magic out of the meeting for him. “You’re the guy on the cover there. Have you ever met a <span style="font-style:italic">real</span> vampire?”</p> <p>Sven’s face fell. This wasn’t the first time he’d come across someone who thought vampires were real. “No,” he said dismissively, already starting to turn away to find someone who, while they may not look nearly as alluring as this woman, would at least be sane. </p> <p>“Nah, of course you haven’t. There’s no such thing, right?”</p> <p>She moved, placing herself before him again. He had to admit, she was probably the most stunning woman at this entire party. The way her eyes seemed to bore into his, holding his gaze. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she really was the vampire woman from the book. </p> <p>“No, there isn’t,” he affirmed, and the woman nodded.</p> <p>“I’m Helen,” she said, her accent suddenly softening to something far more normal. “And I’m glad you’re not one of those nut jobs who thinks he really is a vampire. I had to be sure.”</p> <p>Although he was a little taken aback by her methods, Sven had to admit that Helen had certainly attracted his attention. In more ways than one, as she stepped closer until they were all but pressed against each other. He could have his pick of most of this room, he knew, but Helen had apparently made it her mission that he choose her. And frankly, he wasn’t about to argue. He slipped his hands about her waist, letting one drop to cup the cheek of her arse. </p> <p>“Easy now, lover boy,” Helen purred. “Not out here in the middle of the floor. Let’s find someplace quiet.”</p> <p>He made no protest as she led him to a dimly-lit booth. He made even less protest when she pushed him into the far corner and practically clambered into his lap. And protesting was the last thing on his mind when she pressed her lips to his, even though she was curiously cool to the touch. He explored her body with his hands, growing bolder as Helen not only didn’t dissuade him but began her own examination of him. </p> <p>For her part, Helen was tired of docile meat. She abided by Jasmin’s policy simply because it was expedient to. But her baser appetites needed to be sated, and tonight was a perfect opportunity to indulge a little. She experimented with the merest nip at Sven’s throat. He twitched, but didn’t object. If anything, his response was encouraging. She felt a definite surge of interest in certain parts. <span style="font-style:italic">Oh good…</span> She’d had a feeling, when she chose this one, that he might enjoy a little rough play. </p> <p>“Hmm, you taste good,” she murmured in his ear. Unbidden, her game face transformed her from beauty to beast, but Sven had his face buried against her, nuzzling her neck, and was in no position to see it. She squirmed against him and bit in earnest. Sven’s brief yelp of shock was lost in the general hubbub of the party, and Helen was careful to take only a small amount. </p> <p>Ah, but taking the blood of someone who wasn’t a willing sheep – that was ambrosia. Part of her wanted to take it all, but she restrained herself. Jasmin would tie her to the roof at dawn if she did that. So she lapped at the crimson trickle, glad that she’d at least had the presence of mind to make the bite low on Sven’s neck – practically at his shoulder. It would be easy for him to cover up until it healed. Next time she’d have to make sure it was somewhere that wouldn’t show at all. </p> <p>Hmm. Next time. Was she seriously considering a ‘next time’? Well, and why not? He was young and strong, very virile, and his blood tasted sweet and exciting. Yeah, she could deal with a next time. She sat up, her face returning to normal, and looked down at Sven as he lay back panting. </p> <p>“What was that?” he gasped. “It was… wow. Weird, but it felt great.”</p> <p>She stroked his face, her smile predatory. “I’m glad you liked it. We should do it again sometime.”</p> <p>His eyes fluttered open and fixated on her bodice where it lay partly open, her breasts almost spilling completely out of her dress. “Oh yes,” he agreed. “That, and much more, I hope…”</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3438#comments Author:Heather Character:Sven Tonnesen Location:Graveyard Mon, 24 Jan 2011 05:22:56 +0000 Heather 3438 at http://unlimitedi.net 21:03 Alison and Evalyn http://unlimitedi.net/node/3437 <p><p>Evalyn was starting to feel somewhat more in control of herself now. The last of her Ardbeg slid down her throat, its smooth, pleasant burn lingering with a strong taste of hickory smoked bacon. Sometimes there was nothing more satisfying than a good Scotch, straight up with nothing fancy.</p> <p>Sebastian was leaning against the bar beside her – apparently he had the night off tonight, but decided to come anyway for the event. “Can I get you another one?” he asked genially as she placed her glass down, his eyes smoking. No work to preoccupy him tonight!</p> <p>Evalyn smirked back at him and poked a finger on his chest. “Non, merci mon cher, you would get me too drunk before the evening 'as even started!” His look said he didn't mind, but she pushed herself up off her seat to end further discussion. When he started to follow her, however, she held up a hand and lowered her voice, “Stay where you are. I will find you again.” She winked, then turned to leave him standing there with her empty glass. After a couple of steps, however, she paused and turned back to him. “Actually... you <span style="font-style:italic">can</span> get me anozzer drink. I will enjoy it wiz you later.”</p> <p>She left him completely that time and glided off into the crowd. Evalyn was still curious to meet this author, Lucinda Graves. Jasmin had recommended she read her book and that she might enjoy it from what she heard, and though books weren't really Evalyn's thing, she couldn't put it down! Excepting Jasmin herself, it was a nice change from the real demons who weren't nearly half as alluring. Yves had made fun of her for reading it, but then she found the book also made an excellent club.</p> <p>She didn't have to wonder long before a brilliant blue caught her eye near the restrooms and drew her attention, and once caught, the dress held it. That had to be the author – she looked similar to the woman in the cover of her book at least.</p> <p>Evalyn put on her most charming smile and made her way over.</p> <p>“Bonjour! You are the wonderful Lucinda Graves, oui?”</p> <p>For just a few moments, Alison had managed some peace and quiet in the ladies’ room. She’d finished her first drink, having nursed it for some time, and the couple of minutes alone in the bathroom had done much to fortify her for the next hour of the party. She’d learned to take these things one hour at a time – it was the only way to retain her sanity amidst the scores of strangers. All she had to do now was track down another mojito and she’d be set. </p> <p>It was while on this mission that the French-accented voice stopped her in her tracks. She turned and flashed her best smile at the young woman who faced her. “Why yes, I am. How are you doing?”</p> <p>“Very well, merci.” Evalyn looked over the other woman's outfit and had to compliment her. “You are stunning! I 'ave seen your photo in my copy of your book, but you are even more beautiful in real life. I love your dress!”</p> <p>“Oh, thank you. I must say, you look fantastic as well. I’ll bet you’ve turned a head or two in here already.” From the corner of her eye Alison caught sight of Sven surrounded by yet another bevy of beautiful girls and wondered how long it would be before his tastes turned to the Continental. About half a second after he saw this woman, she figured.</p> <p>“I’ve met so many new fans here tonight. It’s humbling to see how many people like the books.” And it really was. Alison knew how lucky she was to be able to live this life. She had to remind herself of this at the times when keeping up the Lucinda façade became tiring. </p> <p>“Merci! I did enjoy your book quite a bit, al'zo I 'ave to admit, I 'ave only read your latest so far.” Evalyn apologized with a small shrug, but continued smiling. “My friend, Jasmin, actually recommended zat I read it before coming. Now I believe I am 'ooked! I shall 'ave to read ze rest!” Yves and his mockery be damned!</p> <p>Evalyn sighed. This woman was quite pleasant, but she didn't seem nearly as gothic as she'd assumed she would be. “May I ask: what made you write about vampires?”</p> <p>For a moment Alison almost gave her usual glib reply, but just then spotted Pablo out on the balcony and almost in spite of herself she found herself saying, “I met a man, years ago. He said something about vampires to me in connection with an event… well, that’s not really important. We dated for a while, but he had his work and I had mine and we sort of drifted apart. But the idea of vampire stories stuck with me. People love to read about them. They’re dark, mysterious, terrifying, sexy. And best of all, they’re imaginary. So as a writer I can make up all sorts of stuff about them. Although I did spend a stupid amount of time researching vampire myths and legends. There’s such a variety, it’s hard to pick which version to go for.”</p> <p>She chuckled. “And then, of course, once I got to book two I had to include werewolves. The zombies showed up in book three… You know how it goes. Once you start down the path of supernatural fiction, it seems every branch ends up in there sooner or later. The vampires have always been the mainstay, though.”</p> <p>Evalyn chuckled with Lucinda, she hadn't expected quite the detailed explanation, but she felt grateful for the honesty. Made it much easier to talk.</p> <p>“Per'aps you should 'ave a Chatuman or two in your next book as well,” she joked when Lucinda finished. At the woman's polite but confused look, Evalyn waved her hand in dismissal. Bad joke. “Just some random demon I 'ad 'eard of once. I sink it is more of a French sing.”</p> <p>Evalyn suppressed her embarrassment and resumed her smile, “'As zis man ou planted zese ideas ever come back to claim royalties?” This felt like a much safer joke than the last. Evalyn didn't much fancy explaining Chatuman to the woman, no matter how pleasant she was to talk to. Evalyn felt she'd be more embarrassed than anything else to have her kind published like that. She'd never hear the end of it from Yves!</p> <p><span style="font-style:italic">No. You would not.</span></p> <p>“Not royalties, as such. But we did recently bump into each other again. You know, I think the old spark never quite died.” Alison tried to spot Pablo again over the woman’s shoulder, but couldn’t see him on the balcony anymore. </p> <p>“And I’m afraid I’ve never heard of this French demon. I’ll have to look them up; I’m always on the lookout for new ideas. Giving me ideas is a great way to end up on an acknowledgements page,” she grinned. “Though for that, you’d have to actually tell me your name,” she added with a wink. “Now, Chatuman… how do you spell that?”</p> <p><span style="font-style:italic">Merde!</span> Evalyn cursed inwardly for getting caught up in niceties. She racked her brains, trying to think of any dignified way she could get out of giving this woman ‘new material’. “Uh... 'ow do you spell it? I uh... can not be too sure, but....”</p> <p><span style="font-style:italic">Yves! Aide moi!</span></p> <p>“I sink it's....”</p> <p><span style="font-style:italic">Désolé, mais Yves n'est pas ici maintenant!</span></p> <p><span style="font-style:italic">Con!</span> That man was insufferable. However, just as Evalyn was about to lay into him with a few more choice words, an idea struck her. <span style="font-style:italic">Bien sûr!</span></p> <p>“Uh... S-H-A... ah...” Evalyn continued repeating the word softly trying to find other alternate letters that were close enough to the mark, “D, zen double O... M-A-N.” Evalyn mentally congratulated herself, refrained from sighing in relief and instead pulled an apologetic smile to her face, “I do not expect you will find much zo. It is a very obscure sing.” She held out her hand, “My name is Evalyn, by the way.” </p> <p>Looking for something else to quickly change the topic, Evalyn recalled Lucinda peering past her shoulder as if looking for someone, then turned to look herself. “Is your muse 'ere tonight?”</p> <p>With no small amount of amusement at the woman’s antics, Alison took the proffered hand. “Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Evalyn.” She made a mental note of the spelling given for the demon, but resolved to check alternatives. Evalyn hadn’t seemed too sure, that was certain, and if it was of French origin she would have expected a C-H beginning for the ‘sh’ sound. </p> <p>“As for my ‘muse’…” She nodded. “He’s here somewhere. Hopefully getting me another strawberry mojito. My first appears to have evaporated.”</p> <p>“Ah...” Evalyn nodded sagely, “Oui. It is a common evil zat troubles us all. Myself, I 'ave a drink waiting for me somewhere.” She smiled with a distant look as she thought of Sebastian and the fun they might still have. Jasmin did have a gloriously wonderful club filled with a many dark corners.</p> <p>“Well,” Evalyn continued, refocusing on Lucinda, “I am sure you 'ave many more people wishing to see you tonight, but it 'as been a pleasure.” She gently took the author’s shoulders and passed a faint kiss by either cheek. As expected with most Americans, Lucinda stiffened slightly at the gesture, but Evalyn liked the woman and it was a common courtesy. “Per'aps we will see each ozzer again before ze night ends.”</p> <p>Alison smiled as warmly as she could, ashamed at having given in to her insecurities even for that brief second. She was so used to being hugged and kissed by strangers, why the sudden stiffening when Evalyn did it? She had no real explanation, but dismissed the aberration as being merely the cumulative effect of the evening’s encounters. </p> <p>“I’m sure we’ll see each other about. Especially if you’re a friend of Jasmin’s. She makes a wonderfully gracious host, I must say,” Alison said, gesturing around at the club. “This is perfect. And I do believe I need to go in search of that mojito.”</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3437#comments Author:Amanda Author:Heather Character:Alison Scruggs Character:Evalyn Toussaint Location:Graveyard Mon, 24 Jan 2011 04:26:30 +0000 Heather 3437 at http://unlimitedi.net 20:43 Alison and Pablo http://unlimitedi.net/node/3436 <p><p>Pablo downed the shot at the bar. <span style="font-style:italic">Let's get this party started</span>, he thought. When the bartender came back he ordered a strawberry mojito for Alison and a Hell-Firetini he'd heard someone else order. Something with cinnamon he suspected.</p> <p>He glanced over his shoulder and saw ‘Lucinda’ swimming through the crowd. He had to make sure not to lose her. <span style="font-style:italic">Again</span>, he thought.</p> <p>Soon the drinks were up and he started the juggling act that was moving through a crowd with drinks. It only took him a few minutes to cross the twenty or so feet to get to her.</p> <p>“Oh, thank you.” “Yes, you're too kind." Titter delightfully at a lewd joke. "Yes indeed, I have a whole new trilogy in mind.” “Absolutely. Lots more sex.” “Oh, Pablo, thank God.”</p> <p>Alison reached the end of a string of well-wishers to find Pablo holding the promised drink for her. It was, indeed, red. She reached for it, then realised she was still holding the glass of champagne that Romano had given her. She juggled the two for a moment before thrusting the champagne into Pablo's free hand. Taking a sip of the drink she sighed in appreciation. "Ah, strawberry mojito. Perfect."</p> <p>Pablo looked nonplussed and Alison felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry," she said, leaning her head close to his so they could talk without too much chance of being overheard. "I have a tough enough time at these things, but I've had time to get used to them. I shouldn't have been so selfish as to drag you here. I knew you wouldn't want to hang off my arm while I worked the room." She pecked him on the cheek knowing that it was entirely inadequate as thanks, but it was all she could do right now.</p> <p>He kissed her bare shoulder and spoke back into her ear. "I understand, I really do. I just promise to make you pay for it one night when duty calls."</p> <p>He sipped the Hell-Firetini. Nasty, just like the other one. Sooner or later, he'd find one he liked.</p> <p>“Fair enough, I suppose. If we’re keeping score, we’re one-all at Slàinte, and you owe me one for tonight. Shall I get out the blackboard?” She grinned and took another sip of her mojito. “Try the champagne, if you don’t like that… whatever the hell that is.”</p> <p>“Ok, ok, we won’t keep score, how's that? Except for keeping track of drinks. Where'd you get a champagne? More specifically a non-red champagne?”</p> <p>Alison wrapped an arm around Pablo’s waist and turned slightly so they both faced back more or less the way she’d come. “That’s a whole story in itself,” she said. “I was introduced to this guy who got champagne to arrive as if by magic. Seriously, the waiter was there in about five seconds flat. How he did it in this crowd, I have no idea.”</p> <p>Pablo gave her a look, so she sipped more of her drink and continued. “Anyway, it started out like a normal conversation, but as soon as he found out I was a reporter, he gave me the brush-off. Real fast. He’s supposed to be some sort of businessman, but he got awfully nervous – ever heard of a guy named Romano?”</p> <p>Pablo looked like the champagne had turned to vinegar. "Balthazar Romano?" he glanced around the room, "He's here?"</p> <p>Alison nodded. Somehow she wasn’t surprised at Pablo’s reaction. Just a few minutes in the man’s presence had left an oily aftertaste. “Yeah, he was over there,” she indicated with her head. “But that’s not the best part. You’ll never guess who was with him. Romano introduced him as an associate, but I got more of a bodyguard vibe. I tell you, my reporter’s instincts are screaming at me that something weird is going on.”</p> <p>Pablo looked back at her intently, "Did he gesture at you, or give you anything? This champagne came from him?" His wild-eyed look and frantic tone was more than a little alarmed.</p> <p>"Uh, yeah..." Alison stepped back a pace to really look at Pablo. "Are you okay? Whatever he's up to, I'm sure he didn't put anything in the drink." She shook her head, as if to clear it. "Look, the other bit I wanted to tell you about was who he was with. It's too much of a coincidence. It was that guy... whoa."</p> <p>A couple descended on her, sweeping her away from Pablo. "Lucinda Graves! Oh god, it really is you. We just <span style="font-style:italic">love</span> your books!" the man enthused. "When is the next one coming out?"</p> <p>As she stumbled back a couple of paces to keep her balance, she waved to Pablo. "I'll tell you later, okay? Try not to drink too much."</p> <p>"Watch out for..." but it was too late. She was out of earshot and perhaps even out of reach. He saluted with the Hell-Firetini and casually dumped the champagne onto a nearby tray. Then he headed off the floor. He needed some air.</p> </p> http://unlimitedi.net/node/3436#comments Author:David Author:Heather Character:Alison Scruggs Character:Juan Pablo Sandoval Location:Graveyard Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:47:06 +0000 Heather 3436 at http://unlimitedi.net