Twenty-One Candles

[The Cedar Witch]

Reserved for Saiketsu

January 17th, 10:00 p.m. She couldn’t stop checking the time on her cell phone, a habit she’d developed over a few short months after Damien insisted she carry the thing around “Just in case”. Open. Close. Open. Close. Despite the waves of anxiety rushing over her, the girl was fighting a smile, blue eyes scanning the quickly passing scenery through the passenger side window. He wanted to go faster, she could feel it, but out of the gentle so typical of Pierre, the flaming red didn’t go over 60 miles per hour. Which was still too fast for her personal liking, but the butterflies racing around her gut glued her mouth shut.

This was supposed to be a surprise, so Prince Charming hadn’t even hinted at where he was taking her, but Damien seemed to know. What else is new… And it took quite an awful lot of convincing, from both of them, to let her out of the apartment without Ace tagging along for once. Of course, she couldn’t leave without the strict emphasis of ‘rules’, not without your not-so-healthy dose of sarcasm, a few short sentences (in French) to Pierre, and an uneasy smile that reminded her so much of things that had transpired over the past four months between them. But tonight there wouldn’t be any dwelling on the past. Tonight, Storm was supposed to have fun. And who better to have it with then a handsome, blonde, strong, French…

The Akari ventured a peek at the driver of the speeding vehicle, trying oh-so-hard not to stare too rudely at him. This was the only time she had spent with Pierre, unaccompanied, for a long period of time. Feeling privileged was an understatement. Actually, she was feeling more self-conscious then anything. Had she dressed too casually? Longsleeve black shirt, the nicer pants, sweatshirt; everything black of course. Was her hair a mess? Should she have worn a bit more makeup? But wasn’t eyeliner enough? He looked pristine, as always, leaving her to feel terrifically mediocre. Storm flipped open the cell phone again, checking the time, paying no attention to the gradually changing scenery around them.

If she had looked out the window, the girl would have noticed that they were fast entering the deeper parts of the Industrial part of the city. She would have seen the passing factories, warehouses, and plants. And most importantly, she would have noticed that they were heading straight toward Risk, not that she’d ever personally been there. But she had definitely heard about it, enough to make her leery about going. But, dazzled by the European charm, Storm had become very trusting of Pierre, almost as if she expected him to know what she would and would not like to do on her twentieth birthday. The first one that had been given much of any attention as far as she could remember.

“Where are we going, you still haven’t told me?” her voice was surprisingly strong and unwavering, despite how incredibly nervous she was feeling, and there was even a touch of humor in it, along with a smile she flashed in his direction.

[Saiketsu]

The quick pep-talk between the two vampires still lingered on in the Frenchman\'s mind as he pushed Camille through the city streets, allowing the lady to walk around the blocks at a mere fifty miles per hour. Not too fast, Damien had said. She doesn\'t like cars, he had said. She\'ll be completely paralyzed, he had said.

But from the quick glances that he was stealing at her from time to time, she wasn\'t paralyzed, flicking the cell phone open and closed just like Damien did when he was anxious or something. Pierre Jean-Luc DuSang found it amusing. His sire was a bit too jumpy for anyone\'s good sometimes, especially Storm\'s. That\'s why Pierre volunteered to take her out for her twenty-first birthday, even if it was against Damien\'s wishes at first.

Fact was that Storm and Damien needed some time away from each other, no matter how reluctant Damien was to admit it. There was no imminent threat of Laurent hanging overhead and there was no personal rush either. In fact, it was Damien who suggested that Storm do something for her twenty-first birthday, a year that all mortals seemed to treasure. So it was a good thing that Damien trusted Pierre with his life and the life of those he needs or else Storm would have been in mortal danger as Camille pulled up into the  parking lot near Risk.

Unbuckling her, as he was wearing no saftey belt himself, Pierre gave the Akari a smile. Over the past few months and the multiple times lingering around Damien and his affairs, the young one had slowly become much like a little sister to the vampire. But of course Jean-Luc completyely understood from the second he found out about her that she was completely and utterly off limits. And Pierre was never one to bite the hand that fed, especially if that hand was his best friend\'s. Instead, Storm was just his cute little sister, a good friend, and it was his job not to charm or intimidate, but relax and force her to have a fun time.

"I\'m taking you dancing." The vampire stepped out of the car before she could respond, smiling a large smirk.

[The Cedar Witch]

"D...Dancing?" or at least that was what the squeak that escaped past her lips sounded like. Storm\'s features faltered momentarily, but she still managed to keep her smile in-tact, although considerably pale. A thousand things were going through her mind at once as her feet planted on the outside of the car. She couldn\'t dance, have never danced, did not want to dance, and probably would not dance. But the unsure disposition that was so characteristic of the Akari girl seemed to fade, at least from the forefront of her mind, with the sight of Pierre\'s smile. Yet, despite this supposed \'confidence boost\', her eyes still flashed frightfully between an array of colors before she even had the chance to absorb the sight of where the vampire had taken her.

Risk. The outside wasn\'t impressive-looking at all, but considering that they were in the heart of the Industrial part of town, Storm had no other conclusions to draw. Storm eyed the place warily, noting that nearly everyone who passed her by to enter the building was a vampire. Great... A blood-sucking hot-spot. How the hell did Pierre convince Damien to let him bring me here, of all places? The second thing that hit her full force, after the initial shock and fear wore off, was the energy pulsing from the building. Time in the city had given her the opportunity to learn how to deal with given situations where there were large gatherings, but it was nothing like this.

Like a trapped animal, the Akari stood frozen in place, looking to Pierre for some sort of direction. "I can\'t dance," she whispered, eyes frantic. Her neck felt too exposed. Far too exposed. Her hand flew to her collar bone, as if trying to shield it from the large group of predators that she was about to waltz into the center of.

[Saiketsu]

Too late. Pierre had her hand in his before she could even finish her statement, that smile on his face. "Would you relax? Jesus, you make it seem like I just gave you a death-sentence. You\'re twenty-one now, you have to do something crazy!" He felt as if he were dragging her, his little sister, around by the arm as he pulled her along. Sacre Bleu!

No matter how hard she fought, Pierre was still able to pull her easily towards the building. There were very few people here this early, anyone could feel that: some of the VIPs were only just waking. No one was outside of the club save for Bentley, an old friend of the vampire\'s. "Come on, Storm!" That same grin still remained on his face.

[The Cedar Witch]

"Do I even look like someone who would do something crazy?" She sputtered, voice reaching a higher pitch. The statement was followed with a sigh of surrender as he pulled her closer to the building. The Akari followed reluctantly, given no real choice in the matter. Flashing eyes darted along the walls of the long hallway, resting on posted notices, "Rules for Risk" sticking out in particular. Something about not killing those who were unmarked. But Pierre\'s hold on her was a bit more pulling then trying to figure out exactly what the owners of Risk wanted the general public to be aware of. And Storm wasn\'t one to fight off Pierre.

The place was surprisingly empty but it didn\'t feel like it at all. Not to her anyway. What she was picking up were the remnants of last night\'s escapades, to put it lightly. But to say that she was relieved over the lack of people, for the moment, would be an understatement. This gave her the chance to adjust to the "baseline" feeling of energy that the place emanated, before anything more overwhelming walked in. Still, she was already feeling lightheaded from it. But there was still a smile on her face, something like the excitement of the atmosphere rubbing off on her. And she still had every intention of at least trying to enjoy herself. She was with Pierre, after all, and when did that ever happen.

With her other hand still on her neck, Storm drifted toward an empty barstool as they began to walk closer to it, feeling the need to gain her bearings. Releasing his icy hand, she anchored herself to the wood of the stool and took a few deep, inconspicuous breaths. When the bartender spoke up, asking what it was that she wanted, the girl jumped nearly clean out of the chair.

"Um..." Storm turned slowly to look at the man, eyes wide with a frightfully lost expression on her face. "Nothing, I\'m fine." She turned her back to him, face flushed and eyes glowing red in embarrassment. Calm the hell down, you\'re so jumpy and awkward. Inhale, Exhale.

[Saiketsu]

He stood gazing down at the streets interwoven below his window, the cell phone in his hand flipping open and shut, open and shut. Steely silver eyes showed his anxiety at having the Akari out of his sight for the night, and for the knowledge of where exactly she was and with whom. It was a feeling that Damien was used to, but not to this magnitude. It was his job to watch over the girl who now inhabited his apartment as if she were his close friend and not the incarnation of his deceased. Open and shut.

Several cars passed by before Damien retaped the window and began to pace again. They had barely been gone an hour and already his chest was tightening uncomfortably. When was she going to be home. Back. They. Not her. He paced again, trying to push the thoughts of her away.

It was beginning to get hard to keep her and Isabella separated in his mind, the present overwhelming the past to an absurd degree. No longer could he so easily push the thoughts of Storm away from his sacred desires he still had reserved for Isabella alone. The vampire ceased his pacing and seated himself on the armchair in the living room where the Akari\'s scent lingered strongest, her makeshift bedroom. There he tented his hands as his arms rested on his knees. Thoughts of friendship and secrets belonging to his mind alone surfaced reptitively as those steely eyes closed. Ace let his mind filter though these, with hours remaining until Pierre brought her back.


He couldn\'t help but smile at her awkwardness, throwing an arm around her shoulders in a huge hug. "You need a night out, kid, more than anything else. Couped up and watched the entire time like a mental patient. Don\'t ever tell him I just said that." He was smiling, but truth was the Jean-Luc was feeling a slight tinge of guilt that forced his smile to dampen faintly. "Relax, would\'ja? We\'re not staaying here the entire night, just a little while."

Pierre looked out into the small crowd of people. Hardly anyone was feeding yet, only the young ones who didn\'t understand how Risk operated, trying to get lucky with donors too cold for enjoyment. Sure there was some dancing patrons on the floor of course, the music reminding him of something similar to a softcore porno, not that he would ever mention that to Storm of course.

His hand was still wrapped around her shoulders when he bagan to notice her blood\'s reaction. Pierre was quick to move his arm from her opposite shoulder, just in case the temptation overtook him to be ungentlemanly. Good thing he had fed yesterday.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm inhaled sharply when he came closer, flustered beyond her reasonable control. Struggling to mask her quiet longings, she sighed deeply (while secretly enjoying the foreign musky scent that clung to Pierre\'s clothing) again, finding it hard to wish herself elsewhere. No outward reaction on her part when he pulled away--nothing beyond a gentle and submissive smile and twinkling blue eyes. Really, Damien was quite the last thing on her mind for now, which was a huge relief given her state of mind on a \'normal\' day-to-day basis. Where it wasn\'t nearly as bad as before, when she felt as if she were constantly walking on eggshells, it still wasn\'t a walk in the park on most days. Nothing she could prevent.

"Alright, fine. But I\'m warning you, I\'m not exactly the most exciting person to take out." Distracted, her eyes flickered to the door where a slow stream of newcomers were flowing in. Everyone was dressing nearly the same. The men dark and the women scantily clothed. The Akari felt horrifically out of place, body language outwardly displaying this realization. The music wasn\'t anything she had heard before, really, and she didn\'t necessarily care for it. It did do a number on the baseline energy level, that was slowly increasing with the number of people. For now, while the night was still young, it was still slow. And she was thankful, to say the least.

With Pierre still looking out into the crowd, Storm took the opportunity to flip open her phone and furiously press a series of buttons, only to flip it shut not thirty seconds after.

I can\'t believe you let him take me HERE. Are you really so anxious to get rid of me that you\'d send me into a den of thirsty vampires? As if jumping off a cliff wasn\'t traumatic enough? -.-;

"So what the hell do you expect me to do here?" Storm muttered, half to herself, checking her cell phone again without really absorbing the time she saw on the display.

[Saiketsu]

The phone was in his hand a split second before the phone actually rang, his physical sensitivities easily able to pick up on the sound and radio waves in the air before the message was fully in the phone. A million different scenarios ran through Damien\'s head as he flipped open the phone to see her sarcastic words scrawled on the screen. It eased him a little and he paid no mind to the emotions being portrayed. Instead he closed the phone and placed it back on the table in front of him, His rigid body relaxing almost noticeably.


His attention focused back on Storm, now that she had had the time to type her little message to Damien. Pierre, so accustomed to the ticking of Damien\'s own cell phone, could almost guess what she was saying, hearing the words come out like Morse\'s code on the screen before her. He caught obvious words like "vampire" and "anxious" and "thirsty". Oh yes, Pierre could guess at the message quiet easily.

"Well why would any one person bring another one person to a dance club?" Jean-Luc smiled, flashing at her the fangs that she was probably too accustomed to by now. Without giving her too much time to think about what he had just said, Pierre took Storm by the hand yet again and began to lead her out onto the dance floor. "That would be to dance, my dear." His faux French accent was thick and the vampire got the reaction he wanted from the girl as she blushed at his natural tongue. How adorable.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm was far too flustered to do anything along the lines of protesting. Instead, she listened furiously to the echo of that accent that replayed in her head until the waves of energy emitting from the dance floor brought her back down to earth. By now, there was a good amount of people on the dance floor, enough to make her nearly cling to Pierre for some sort of an anchor. Almost, anyway. She did manage to look at him in a helpless manner, caught between swaying any way that he asked and feeling frozen in place.

Words too quick for her to understand beyond "should I talk slower like your a retard, should I talk slower like you\'re retarded" (which made her feel even more out of place) and "You stupid motherfucker" pounded mercilessly from the speakers. And despite how unpleasant the general meaning of the lyrics were, she couldn\'t say that she completely hated it. Something about the beat and the pulsing bodies around her was almost enough for her to want to try this \'dancing\' thing out. Almost.

"I\'ve never danced before." Her confession was forced through her teeth in a whisper, something the vampire undoubtedly could pick up easily enough. I\'m going to fucking kill him when I get back, Storm aimed her frustration toward thoughts of Damien and somehow making him pay for her momentary discomfort.

[Saiketsu]

"Well you\'re going to now." The vampire gripped her hand in a tell-tale grasp with the biggest smile on his face. She was going to enjoy this night and Pierre would make sure of that. He pushed her out into a twirl and spun her under his arm, her socially awkward movements clear to him, her graceful potential rough to the untrained eye. Oh yes, Pierre would have her dancing before her big day came to.

He pulled the Akari back into him, noting how difficult it was for her body to follow his guidance. It made him want to pinch her cheeks or give her a \'noogie\' as they called it. It was simply darling in Storm\'s awkward way. Her hips landed back near his, facing away of course. In no way was Pierre oblivious to the heat flowing through Storm\'s body in the form of blood; blushing again, embarassed or something like that. Out of all creatures in this city he had ever met, Jean-Luc loved mortals the most.

The beat moved his boy easily and with his hands high on her waist, Pierre tried to help the Akari\'s as well, nothing too invading or personal, but almost too close for Damien\'s comfort. "You\'re not relaxing." Her hips were stiff as if her bones were made of rock. More blood. More stiffness. It was hard to get her to move without hurting her with his strength, but he managed somehow. After a song or two, her hips began to move more like hips should and Jean-Luc was proud of her. "There you are!"

[The Cedar Witch]

She let out a loud gasp as he suddenly moved her without much of her consent. It took a moment for her to realize exactly what he was doing, and by the time she realized that she had been spun around, she was already quite close to him. Storm couldn\'t stop the blood flow to her cheeks and the quickening rhythm in her chest. Her mind was in a whirl, half wanting to pay attention to Pierre and Pierre only, and half looking wildly about at the tightly-knit group they were in the middle in. And just like that, the song picked up and Pierre was guiding her around again as if she were some china doll.

"I know I\'m not relaxing!" the Akari snapped, anger directed more toward herself and her own clumsiness then anything. In the back of her mind she noted how easily this came to him, this dancing thing, as well as most of the others around her. And the out-of-place-feeling only seemed to strengthen. But her determination to have a good time with perhaps the only opportunity she would be given, coupled with the fact that she absolutely hated feeling so ostracized, caused her to settle inside and attempt to move more fluidly.

As the song changed, Storm felt as though she had finally grasped the general idea of it all. And if she listened to the words and the beat just right, while focusing specifically on how Pierre was moving, she could trick her body into relaxing enough to dance. Ironically, the more time that passed, the less that she wanted to leave. And she could feel herself becoming immersed in the music, dancing at times without much of his guidance, and actually having fun--on her own. But she was growing weary, something that she didn\'t necessarily want to admit. The heat of the sweating bodies around her caused her to instinctual gravitate toward the vampire--because he was colder, of course. It was almost as if her timidness and awkwardness had completely dissolved. Almost.

[Saiketsu]

There it was, that grace, that movement. She can be taught! Her hips found the beat, even as it moved fast and it was tempting to get closer to her, but Pierre refrained, not wishing to cause any problems for either her or himself. Whether he\'d admit it or not, Damien had already made sure that Storm was off limits to anyone else, staked his claim over the girl.

But as the dance floor thickened and the Akari danced closer, Jean-Luc found himself with a different reaction than what he should have had towards the young woman: the temptation to redden his face with undead blood.

The girl would be a bomb-shell if she could loosen up every now and then. From the time he had first laid eyes on the mortal, he could tell something was... different about her, besides being the incarnation of Lady Isabella. There was always this protective wall around her, like a mask that Damien wore in front of the Younger Ones; a mask that held in a huge story. Never one to press the issue, Pierre knew little about her except for the few details Damien or Nikolai let slide on the sly.

She was fragile. She was strong, like some sort of secret weapon laying in dormancy. A serious past. A connection to someone here in the city. Prone to flight. Prone to... everything, really. She was the Lady\'s modern mirror. Worst of all, she was a mystery that tantalized Jean-Luc and the rest of the Inner Circle who weren\'t Damien.

Only Damien knew more, and probably not everything, just by looking at her as she finally started smiling, her fiery body clad in black and easily discernable from everything else. Her eyes were blue now, something Pierre took for happiness. And he was glad for it. Whatever typically weighed Storm down was lifted, if only for one night, her birthday.

The vampire could feel her warming blood through her skin, a beacon of life that seemed so different accentuated by the pulsing beat of "The Days of Phoenix" blared through the speakers. It was refreshing to know that she was there. His little sister.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm was lost in herself and the base thumping at the bottom of her stomach. Her face was flush by now, and a part of her had grown addicted to this constant movement and closeness to a multitude of bodies. And for once her hair was a mess and she didn\'t move to fix it, it was a sexy sort of feeling that she couldn\'t place. Her eyes were so blue it almost altered her vision. If only Damien could see this...

But he wasn\'t here. And that fact was almost confusing to her. Four months it was like he was attached to her by the hip, figuratively speaking, and it was nearly lonely being away from him. He had always smiled when she smiled, a nice break from the somber feeling that used to linger in the apartment. And here she was, unable to stop her constant smile and drugged-like-happiness from showing. Not to mention, she was actually letting herself relax. And as much as she was enjoying Pierre, a part of her wondered what the other vampire was doing. How he was filling his time. Not that she missed him or anything. Why would she?

The music slowed about a half a beat and the Akari was well out of breath. She was about to lean forward to explain that she wanted a break, but someone behind her pushed her into Pierre. And god knows she could never keep her footing. Grasping his arm for stability, she pulled away as quickly as she could, trying to force down the red in her face without much success.

"I need a break." still out of breath, face glistening with sweat.

[Saiketsu]

"Yes, I can see that." His own face remained perfectly clean. Grasping strongly onto her hand while ignoring the adorable amount of blood flooding her familiar features, Jean-Luc wove between the drowning vampires and swooning mortals. The scent of blood was becoming clearer as the moments passed, more humans and supernaturals flooding the walls of Risk.

He guided her slowly over towards a couch at the side wall right near the DJ. Like much of the furniture in this place, the couch was red and stained dark red. Pierre paid no mind to the dried blood as he sat down, leading her to do the same, his arm over the back of the couch behind her. His former impression of her along with his use of the word \'bomb-shell\' still applied now that sweat glued her underlayers of hair to her exposed skin. It was a sight he was very much used to for girls and no matter what girl it was, it was always nice to see. Pierre smiled to himself silently, allowing her to catch her breath before he began to speak.

"Have you ever seen a vampire feed before, Storm?" His head tilted back against the wall but his eyes remained glued to the dance floor, honest curiousity filling his voice. To his knowledge no vampire under Damien\'s regime ever fed in front of the Akari, by orders of Damien. That was half the reason that Storm was taken here tonight as opposed to any ordinary dance club. Better to see the practice done in person by someone else besides the soldiers.

[The Cedar Witch]

The fact that the couch she was sitting on reeked of blood was a tad unnerving to the girl. But the fact that she was terrifically out of breath was a more dire need then thinking too deeply on the blood. Absently she ran her fingers through her hair and wiped the sweat from her brow. A bit more presentable now. It took her a moment to catch her breath, but her expression was still flushed with excitement and something that seemed to say "come on, what are we sitting here for?" but what Pierre said next caused her to pause mid-thought.

"Well," she began, wondering exactly how she should answer. Damien had fed from her, that very first night they met. He had taken from her wrist after he had been weakened from...well, disrupting the natural order of things in her mind. So yes, in that sense, she had seen a vampire feed. But whether or not Damien particularly wanted this information to be shared was not up to her discretion. But besides that, Storm did have Isabella\'s memories bound to her own. Not that she accessed them regularly. As if it was that easy.

"Yes." she replied hesitantly, feeling as if she didn\'t need to necessarily give him an explanation. Vividly she could recall the closeness she shared with Damien that night that had seemed so invasive to her, and still did at times. But why had he even asked that? Surely he wasn\'t planning on... No. Of course not. But her heart still raced noticeably at the possibility, ridiculous notions filling her head.