Slow Burn

[The Cedar Witch]

It was night again, and sleep wasn\'t the correct term for what the Zalmric went through in order to recover from his wounds. None had actually seen him sleep, and it was questionable whether or not he actually did sleep at all. Not that he would ever tell. Whatever the man did do, he emerged from an abandoned building after sunset, a rage boiling silently inside of him. It wasn\'t anything that was abnormal for him.

He was always angry for one reason or another.

Even a day after that incident with a Certain Whore-Of-A-Boy, the man was significantly agitated. Not that he was one to hold a grudge against something so worthless (grudges were a bitch thing to hold, that much he was sure of). Angry was still an understatement. Not only had he lost the scent of a Particular Akari Girl, he hadn\'t Fucked Anything in days. Now with the vampire out of his clutches--for the moment--Laurent had nothing to do but simmer darkly, wandering the streets of the Brazilian Quarter. Searching. Tracking. Planning.

Now for the girl, the man thought darkly, scanning the empty streets from a dimly lit corner. The only thing, besides shit, that he could smell, was the Boy-She-Was-With-Last. Laurent shifted his weight, reaching into the inner pocket of his black trench coat and retrieving a single cigarette and his lighter. He peered at the lighter for a moment, mind wandering briefly back to the first night he met--and nearly fucked--that Certain Vampire who thought he had the balls enough to take him on. The little Shit was lucky that he hadn\'t decided to chance the full-body transformation into fire. Dully, he lit up a cigarette and took a long drag before taking another seemingly-placid look around, mind returning to thoughts of the Akari-Whore He Was Tracking and the boy who dared to stand in front of her. Why the hell would an uptight looking Fuck like that Boy-She-Was-With hang out in a Shit-hole like this?

The \'Shit-hole\' was just starting to settle down for the night, the last stenches of dinner (or whatever food these poor bastards could afford to cook) fading from the air. There was a slapping sound in the distance, the cry of a Bitch and the angry voice of a man following it. Smashing glass and other such noises that defined the scum of humanity. Graffiti painted the walls that gangs of weary-eyed young men congregated. The Zalmric payed them no mind, finding more interest with the glowing ember at the tip of his cigarette then anything else, knowing full well that he could tare all of them apart if he wanted to waste the time an energy. Maybe it would do him some good, to burn off some of the anger that was slowly burning a blacker hole in his mind.

Laurent glared lucidly into the darkness, eyes tracing a trail that was far too old to be of any use to him. He hated Nick for being such a Fucking Tease and a Prick enough to get into a fight with him instead of into a bed. Fucking Waste Of Time, he brooded, sucking furiously on the cigarette. The sooner he reclaimed his Whore, the better. The Captain was in no mood to deal with anyone else while he still had that Bitch on his mind. The both of them.

[moongazer]

Malagog took his time walking slowly and precisely down the street as he walked by people his hands dipping in a random man\'s pocket as his fingers fiddled with a clasp, as he pulled out a silver pocketwatch on a chain, a light grin appearing on his face. He frowned in distaste at the scratches etched over the name Kelly, as he shook his head and kept on walking past the few people who milled about like busy little ants carrying grain to there queen. These people were all slaves to the system working jobs that they hate for that shit they really don\'t need. "It\'s too damn bad the world is based on greed" he said mindlessly in a low mutter as he stopped next to a tree, as he checked to make sure no one was around he morphed into his bird form and flew up on the branch.


Stealthily he sat there, looking around, before casually dipping his head into his feathers to start to preen himself. He carelessly sprang off the branch, ducking under one as the 3 inch tall albino cockatiel flew smack dab into the chest of a man, fuming at something obviously; he could almost sense the bad mojo this man was giving off as he desperately bit the mans shirt and dug his feet in as he climbed up the mans shirt and sat on his shoulder, as he ruffled his feathers and turned his head to preen himself again. Lifting up his wing he lightly ran his beak across his soft under-feathers, checking for any cuts, bumps or bruises. For a second he was about to leave, but as he carefully read the angry vibes the man was giving off it clicked in his head that this was no ignorant human but instead another species. Perhaps it was one capable of understanding him? He planned to stay and find out, but first he would wait and see the mans reaction as he raised his crest to appear friendly.

[The Cedar Witch]

Anger was burning so blackly inside of him that Laurent hadn\'t even seen, felt, or noticed the approach of another. Not that there was anything in all the world threatening enough to cause the Zalmric to keep any sort of a lookout for his own safety. He was far too busy fuming about now two, instead of one, misplaced whores and the still present lack of anything tastefully to penetrate at his bedside. So instead of paying any attention to anything in particular, Laurent was consumed with scolding himself for even taking that Fucking Detour with a Certain-Bitch-of-a-Vampire to begin with, as well as trying to make up for lost time that shouldn\'t have been a complete waste in the beginning. The trail was at his fingertips, if he could only catch the scent of her.

So it was, indubitably, an incredible surprise to have a rather unusually large and out of place (not to mention albino) bird collide into his muscular chest. Not that the collision had hurt him in the slightest bit. Laurent, through years of practice, managed to mask his reaction of utter shock and surprise and not jump or yell as others would. His face, instead, twisted in a rage that was not uncharacteristic of someone who was rather insane. The Zalmric\'s hand morphed reflexively into that of a panther paw, and his brain seemed to work in fast forward.

The first thought that actually formed a word in his mind (aside from a string of curses) was Akari. The second thought, which was an instantaneous realization, was of how unlikely it would be to chance upon an Akari in such an unlikely place. The third was the impeccable desire to tare whatever this bird-thing was, to shreds. And in response to this string of thoughts (which was no longer then a fraction of a second) the man reached his paw around at a speed too quickly for the creature perched on his shoulder to realize, and roughly grasped the thing.

"What the fuck are you?" he forced through his teeth, more of an outspoken thought then a question, considering Laurent didn\'t really give a shit if this thing could even talk. Right now, the only thing that was stopping him from taring the bird apart was...well...nothing.

[moongazer]

"LET GO OF ME" were the four words that Malagog spoke angrily as he sharply pecked the hand and at the twitch of the hand flew out and morphed back into his human form as he ran his fingers through his snow white hair. "I\'m an Avianas and my name is Malagog" he said as he stood there staring at him, many puzzled thoughts running through his head as to the rude reaction he had received, surely most people don\'t react like that to a bird flying into them, but then again that wasn\'t the case with this supernatural; no, not at all. "Honestly, I didn\'t mean to fly into you, I misjudged my take off as I was trying to fly back to my colony and roost for the night." He smiled sincerely at the man, not feeling the need to get into a conflict as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, being sure to keep his an eye on the stranger.


As he started to think about walking away and leaving the pissed off creature alone to sulk and eat some other bird, he leaned against the tree and pulled out the pocket-watch, more interested in seeing the time; about 9:34P.M. or so; "what do you say we just call it even, and I\'ll take you to a local bar for a round of drinks, maybe start a fight there with some easier targets, and get a little tipsy; maybe even talk about what\'s on your mind?" He felt that the man might need a friend, or even have some fun for a night or two, just to help him get his mind off of killing him instead.

[The Cedar Witch]

The only reason that Laurent released the creature was due to the shock of it speaking. But he managed to keep a lid on the remainder of his rage--a rather large accomplishment on his part. Still seething, the man eyed the other as he morphed into something that resembled a human--nothing shocking, considering what Laurent had been exposed to and what he was. Quickly and quietly, the Zalmric took in the creature before him, studying with a critical eye. Where more then half of him still wanted to rip the thing to shreds, for the sake of destroying something. But the fact that he was still not fully healed was something that held him back. That and the mention of free drinks. After all, it wasn\'t like he was progressing much of anywhere without a trail to follow.

"You caught me in a terrific mood," Laurent grinned menacingly, forcing his body to relax almost instantly as he rang his fingers through his hair. Eerie blue eyes locked with the Avian\'s, in a silent assertion of power. "I wasn\'t planning on hanging around this dump anyway. Give me a good reason to hang around with you and I\'ll forget this little mishap." Laurent purred almost seductively. Really, it wasn\'t a threat. It was the only opportunity that the man was presenting to the other to dictate where they would go. He had no intention, however, of revealing to this boy what was on his mind. It wasn\'t any of his business anyway.

[moongazer]

"Why indeed, although I myself would follow a guy offering up free drinks, but don\'t try and eat me, that\'s my only rule." He smiled sweetly at the creature, as he started thinking, his gears starting to turn, as he tried to guess from inside his head what exactly this man was. The man had a nice, clean look to him, and bad vibes flowing off, but he could deal with it. He never did enjoy being looked up and down by anything let alone a cat; considering what he was, but he got used to it. "Like what you see?" he asked the man casually as he let his shoulders relax slowly, letting his back touch smoothly against the tree bark, giving himself a comfortable standing position. He could make several assumptions of how this night could end with this man, one ending up in a bed, or the other, with someone dead. He knew that both were likely but the most likely was a hangover since he was going to a bar.


He casually eyed the man, not caring too much if the stranger knew that he was looking at the man. He did after all want to know what he was walking into a bar with, be it a cute boy-toy, a curvaceous female, or some eye-candy. All he knew was that he liked what he saw, except for the clawed paws, because he wasn\'t planning on getting eaten. "Of course I\'m not planning of taking you to a bar on this shit-hole of a street, I know better places than the areas here, unless you like dangerous bars".

[The Cedar Witch]

"Oh please, eating you isn\'t the worst thing I could do to you." By now, the paw had managed to swirl within the shadows of the man\'s aura, a fleshy hand now emerging from the mist-like substance. Laurent\'s expression remained passive, anger and frustration put on the back burner, so to speak. No, he was not in any condition to fight, nor was he in the mood for pleasant conversation over a few drinks. But, perhaps a few drinks could buy him the time to recover enough to rip something apart. Which was really all that the man was in the mood for: overpower and destroy.

"Do I like what I see?" Laurent repeated, half to himself, as if he couldn\'t believe that the thing had actually asked that. He snickered, reaching into his pocket for another cigarette. He did not answer the question, instead becoming more interested with the glowing tip of the cigarette. Please. Nikolai was better looking then this kid. But Nikolai was probably still curled up in a ball, lying in the dirt where he left him last. Stupid whore, Laurent grinned, listening to the remainder of what this creature had to say.

"Oh, you know of a dangerous bar?" sarcastic surprise, "Because I was beginning to think this town was a bit dull for my taste." he emphasized the last word, eyes shifting back to meet the gaze of Malagog.

[moongazer]

"I\'ve been to every dangerous bar in the area for supes, and I\'ve learned to keep people wary of me; I\'m always safe by myself" he frowned bitterly on the inside as he caught the name of Nicolae, and better looking. He didn\'t like to be upstaged when it came to people but he wasn\'t particularly looking for a person to sleep with, just one to drink with to prevent a fight. He sighed as he ran his fingers through his snowy white hair, beginning to find a boring air rushing through the conversation, he wasn\'t getting nearly as much of an interesting chat as he hoped for. "Too bad you don\'t like me so much" he said casually to the man, as he watched for a reaction. "You avoided the question which is classical body language for a no, or you don\'t wish to discuss it plus you even started to smoke; maybe to chill a little?" He may have been a bird but he was a smart one, and that was for sure. "Do you know what malignancy form is among my species?"


He chuckled lightly to himself because any supes who had seen that form were both revolted and still didn\'t like to be around him. "You\'re decent looking, although you do have some wrinkles in your clothing, but that\'s okay where we might be going, and by the by, I\'m not particularly looking for any \'action\' of that type if you know what I mean." He was smirking on the inside, hoping to see it throw the man off.

[The Cedar Witch]

Laurent paused, twirling the cigarette in his hand for a moment. He did not particularly enjoy being read so easily, nor did he particularly enjoy the way Malagog so casually threw his reading around. Borderline condescending. It took him a moment to really regain his calm composure, on the inside of course, considering none of the internal struggle was evident in his expression. After closely examining the cigarette for a few seconds, Laurent took a slow drag and blew the smoke in the boy\'s general direction.

"Look, I never said anything about action, and I could care less about whatever the hell your species can do." another long drag, Laurent\'s voice remained calm and indifferent. "Are you going to buy me a couple of drinks or are you going to keep wasting my time?" The Zalmric flexed his shoulders to stretch his back, touching his lips to the cigarette for the last time before tossing it to the ground and crushing it with the heel of his boot.

[moongazer]

He sighed briefly on the inside, as he furrowed his brow on the outside, because the guy clearly wasn\'t the type who could stand looking in the mirror. He thought for a second about where exactly to take the impatient man, not really caring if he liked the place or not. "Peach Pit, Adrenaline, Swift", all of these he muttered under his breath, before speaking louder. "Sure I know of three places that you might like if you like bar-fights, hostility and an ominous air in the bar"; all of this he said with a pause to his voice in between ominous and hostility. He was really beginning to get bored and getting hammered was starting to sound better and better with this cretin. Frowning to himself as he leaned against the tree, he looked at his feet before looking up.


"Your choices are Peach Pit, Adrenaline, and Swift, all the types of places that are dangerous in this town" he smiled sweetly at the man, as he thought to himself on the inside about this man and thought about possibly leaving him. The guy had anger issues, morphed into a cat, and if his guess was correct didn\'t like having any flaws of his pointed out, that plus that he would harm an innocent creature especially since it was him.

[The Cedar Witch]

"Why don\'t you pick your favorite, I really don\'t care" Laurent grinned with his teeth, blue eyes glowering dangerously in the night. His hand blindly sought another cigarette in his inside pocket, mechanically lighting and taking a drag as if he were bored. The cigarettes were calming him enough to think slower then he had before and made it less likely for him to lose his temper. Well, for now anyway.

To be honest, he was already starting to get bored. And if this Malagog creature didn\'t take him somewhere soon, he was about ready to find something more interesting to do.

[moongazer]

"Then we\'re going to Peach Pit, and be sure to not stare at the bartenders face, it\'s a little . . . scarred" was all he said as he pictured the deep gash on his face which ran across his face, even across his eyelid, with a murky gray color to his left eye. "Peach Pit isn\'t a friendly place, but hell they serve good wings; kind of ironic that I like to eat fried birds, but as long as they don\'t belong to me or my kin, I could care less".
((Timeskip))

As he walked into the bar, the waitress by the door glared at him before he narrowed his eyes lightly at her, as she turned away and walked off, with a pitcher of beer in her hand. The wooden floors creaked as the two of them stepped in, as one of the guys by the door took a swing at him with a bottle of beer, as it broke with a horrid sounding crunch of glass as he stepped to the left and pivoting on the foot slammed the heel of his foot into the man\'s jaw, a low grunt coming from his face as the 6 other werewolves rushed towards them, knives glinting and knuckles cracking. "Now we\'re talking boys" he said with a maniacal grin on his face as he popped his neck. "You better be ready for this", he yelled to the man with him.

[The Cedar Witch]

Laurent took a long look around the bar, paying little attention to whoever his companion was interacting with. The waitress had caught his eye for a moment and his gaze followed her form as it walked away. But the sound of scuffling and the sudden group of men who had surrounded the two pulled his attention from the attractive woman. His expression remained unaffected, while in his mind the Zalmric was moderately irate. This pack of filth wasn\'t intimidating to the man at all, and he had little interest in interacting with them. They were like a drunken group of high-schoolers, nothing more.

"Really, Malagog. When I said \'dangerous\' I didn\'t mean juvenile." Powerful arms crossed over his chest, Laurent\'s gaze moved passively over the group of attackers, more on guard then he let himself outwardly appear. It seemed to him that these boys had let the testosterone get to their heads. Dangerous was one thing. Senseless fighting with little to no trigger were another. Nevertheless, if any of the things came toward him, they would be stricken down faster then any could perceive.

[moongazer]

"I would watch your words around these werewolves if I were you, they\'re stronger than they look, not just weak people who you shouldn\'t watch out for". He found how naive he could be to be grating. He ducked down to grab an arm and push the person forward, there face hitting the table they came from as he was forced to let go before he broke there arm as a person to the right took an upward slice at him as he stepped back, dodging it as well as dodging two more as he side-stepped a stab, unfortunately for his \'friend\' though, it might hurt a bit more. That plus the guy who just put him in a full nelson and started to choke him out obviously wasn\'t weak; he could see the red on his companions face.


"Welcome, Mr. Priss" said the werewolf as he lifted the scrawny man up in the full nelson as he continued his speech. "This is your initiation, so let\'s see how much of the bar you can fight" As he finished speaking his words, the sound of chairs pushing back and bar-stools swiveling started to resonate throughout the bar, as masses of people got up. "YOU got a lot of balls coming back here" said an angry vampire with a bandage around his shoulder which was sticking out underneath his shirt as he walked towards Malagog. "Those werewolves; I\'ve fought them before, so they aren\'t just some adrenaline-pumped juve\'s; they\'re old enemies, that plus they\'re only werewolves."

[The Cedar Witch]

If any of the werewolves had even dared to take a swipe at the man, they would have been rather surprised. The Zalmric shifted almost instantly into a black shadow. He was becoming rather bored with the company he had acquired, and had every intention of leaving before someone really got on his nerves. Free drink or not.

So, like the gentleman he was, Laurent materialized by the door and took a low bow to the kind men he had just encountered before stepping through and back out into the streets. He had better bitches to fry anyway.