Domus (open)

[Wolfgang]

West Towers, 7 PM, Valentine’s Day.

It’s been too long, far too long. Wolfgang sat beside the pool slumped in a chair, a smoking cigarette in his left hand pointed skyward, eyes fixed on his wife and two sons, still playing in the heated water of the swimming pool, still human despite everything. Julia loved the city, this city, unlike New York; she had friends here, family. I don’t want to go home, her look told him, “I know,” the man mouthed, ashed his cigarette and raised it to his lips again.

They never stayed long, never announced their arrival or departure. A stray light in the penthouse could have been anything, anyone, the cleaning lady more often than not, but tonight, them. The tall vampire glanced down at his phone. He had been contemplating whether or not to make the call but the card in his lap made it unavoidable now, she knew he was here.

“Mortll,” it had gone straight to voicemail, “You’re probably busy. I’m in town until Friday on business, I lost Lyonel’s number, let him know if you see him…” Wolfgang paused, traced his teeth with the tip of his tongue and then ended the call.

[Elizabeth]

The woman had returned from the accursed realms the night before tonight, pondering on what had gone so terribly wrong the last two evenings. She was...pleased they had managed to kill the rogue vampire leader, but displeased it had cost each of them their lives. The first battle had gone so well-the second...Sundial had not been herself. Shamus was unable to fight...Mora fought brilliantly, for the most part everyone had. Still, somehow, something had went very wrong.

And she had been the last one standing after they had all fallen. And though Elizabeth knew the odds were significantly stacked against her, she fought until the very end, her best crafted gun not failing her often as she continually hit the higher ranking rogue vampire, the right hand of the boss herself. Had she killed him at least? How could someone sustain so many wounds to their head and have lived through it?

She was deep within thought-debating if they would leave the rogues to their own territory, or once again try and reclaim it in the weeks to come. The woman was strategizing on her next move-but the options were limited now. She knew this. She knew it to be so, since death always seemed to tear down the spirits of those that had died. Elizabeth no longer feared death-not since the Crow had led their kind here with the security blanket of immortality.

It was while Elizabeth was pondering that the woman noticed something she had not noticed before as she looked out from her gardens upon the domed in rooftop. There was a light on in the upper floors of the Towers. When was the last time she had seen those lights on? Perhaps Wolfgang had sold his prime real estate; Elizabeth had not seen nor heard from the man for some time. It was very likely. She often debated selling her own penthouse in the Alpha towers-for she had not been there in months and before that over a year. It had been her first home since her return from the realms, nearly...five years ago now, but it would never be the same. Not since she had shared its space with another and some members that had moved on or had perished, never to return from death. They suffered a true death that most of their kind were fearful of.

Elizabeth knew not where the man was, or if her mind could even connect with the male, but she tried anyways. Wolfgang West. I do not mean to alarm thee, but the light in your penthouse is on and I do not recall it being on in some time now. Would it appeal to you for me to call the police-or go and see what is going on there myself? Elizabeth was not afraid of what she may find. What was the worst that could happen? She might die?

[Mortll]

Roses are red Violets are blue all that jazzy crap Mortll had sat at her desk looking at the stack of cards wondering what the hell she had been thinking Love wasn't for her best she always managed was friendship. Yet here she was with valentines cards sitting on her desk. The last one she picked up and looked at the name she had scrawled across the back with the address it would probably never reach him and if it did she didn't expect a reply.


It had been well over a year since she had heard anything of Wolfgang West. He had found something that many in this city would never have and his need to protect it from what lurked here was His main priority. Mortll understood it but it had left a gaping hole in her life only to be followed by many more voids being ripped at the rate she was going her immortal existence would look akin to a well aged swiss cheese of eternity.


When she noticed that her phone had been vibrating it was too late to answer it. Her eyebrows raised as the name and number appeared on the screen ‘Speak of the Devil ‘ He was back in town ... The question was is he going to stay ... Mortll secretly hoped that he would but anyone with what he had to lose would run like hell from this place . Mortlls fingers moved across the screen and Texted Wolfgang back “ I sure will ... Can we meet ?”

If Wolfgang West was back in town things would change they always did when he was around you could bet on it

[Wolfgang]

The voice was familiar to him and needed no title, for Wolfgang would know Elizabeth anywhere, and sharing headspace with the woman, even momentarily, brought the events of the past all flooding back. The boys were out of the pool now and Julia sat drying them with a towel. This place had always been for family and friends, only now did it feel like home again, if only for a moment.
“Captain bedtime!” The man bellowed as he got to his feet and saw both boys squealed excitedly, squirming in Julia’s arms in an attempt to escape ‘the bedtime monster’, this a game they often played.
“They both need a bath, they can’t go to bed smelling of the swimming pool,” his wife scolded, stopping the man dead in his tracks, seeing fingers fashioned like claws relax as his arms fell at his sides.
“All right,” Wolfgang agreed, “do you need any help?”
“No, why don’t you pour yourself a drink and put a movie on in the cinema?”
He had almost forgotten the room dedicated to such within the penthouse and smiled, “Maybe later, I was thinking of inviting a friend or two around?”
Julia smiled warmly, “You wouldn’t prefer to go out with them?”
“And leave you and the boys here alone?” Wolf’s brow knotted, “Over my dead body,” he mouthed without giving the words voice, mindful of the young, impressionable ears honed in to his every word a lot of the time.
“I’ll get the boys down and join you when they’re asleep,” the woman smiled and took his sons into the house, headed for the master bedroom where they would all share one bed tonight.

Elizabeth, the man pressed, seeking out the woman in the night, thank you for keeping an eye on things for me, there is no need to worry, however, my family and I are in town until the weekend, you must stop by for a drink sometime before Friday.

It was then Wolfgang felt his phone buzz again, but this time it wasn’t current business that lit up the screen. Clumsily, Wolf thumbed the small buttons on the face of his phone and sent a reply to Mortll, --we can but it doesn’t have to be tonight.-- the simple message communicated, he didn’t want to pull her away from any plans she might have had for Valentines.

[Mortll]

Mortll felt weak and drained yet highly invigorated at the same time. Her lethargic limbs moved slowly and her body ached. She moved the arm curled around her waist carefully and wiggled ever so slowly out of the entwined limbs freeing herself she sat up pulling the fur up over the sleeping body beside her. She stretched lengthening the tight muscles her body thanking her for it . Her hand fell on the silk robe she wrapped around herself as she gave a quick look around for the phone she had forgotten about hours ago.



She smiled as she got to the text from her old friend . It would be good to see him once again. Her fingers moved dexterously over the screen as she typed out the message. Text: Wolfgang Sure just give me a time and place will be good to see you i texted Lyonel that you were back in town with your number Hope to see you soon .


She chunked the phone on the table and carefully snuggled back under the soft fur. Her fingers found the silken hair and pulled it gently away from the curve of her lover's neck her lips finding the sweet spot and the night rolled on .

[Elizabeth]

Elizabeth had done her 'job,' for a person she had once considered as a friend and offshoot of her family. He was after all, Shamus' best friend at one time or another before the male disappeared from the city and vanished from the face of the earth. Elizabeth suspected it had a lot to do with things out of Wolfgang's control, but a missive every blue moon would have been nice. Regardless, the woman had done her good deed for the night and had now turned her back to the penthouse area in the towers and started taking care of her real job. Her flowers were desperately seeking attention and needing help. Elise had done her best to keep them happy and alive, but most of them were droopy, and had soil as dry as the Sahara dessert.

Elizabeth was pruning away some withered leaves when the telepath was met with a reply from Wolfgang. A surprised brow raised, wondering what had brought him into town, but decided it was best not to ask. The offer of a drink was extended and the woman gave it some thought. She would have to confine with her husband before accepting the offer, or even rejecting it. Not wishing to be distracted from something that absolutely needed to be done, due to the slight neglect of care from Elise, over the last week-Elizabeth went back to work, humming a song in her head as her fingers worked their way into the earth's soil, breathing life back into her collection of flowers.

When most the plants and flowers were bursting with life, Elizabeth tossed down her gardening supplies, letting some of them dig into the soft earth and nestling themselves into a new home, before she moved towards the elevator. Elizabeth would take that down to her own penthouse where she would sit at her piano and wait for Shamus to return so that the two of them would discuss things further.

[Lyonel]

Mocha skin shimmered beneath the long chocolate tone ringlets that dangled in the way until the handful was captured in a reflexive brush of an open hand. In the opposite hand the artist brush swept over the small dry spot of black surface on the bar top that needed a final seal. Jolie Sweet stepped back and settled onto the bar stool beneath the curve of her backside. Her bottom lip rolled back over the hard line of her bottom row of teeth and was held in place. She should be doing hair or a facial back at the salon and spa that sported her name on the second floor of Veil Towers. Instead she was was standing in The Whiskey Chamber in the newest mall trying to give the business the final touches that clearly was not her expertise.

“Lyon.” She said his name like an afterthought while pulling her body up to use the sink to rinse off the brush in her hand. “I really think anything else in here that needs to be done is just going to…”

The soft flow of water that was expected hardly matched what shot out of the faucet. What should be one solid stream was divided. Half went directly to her face and the other showered the black spotless tile backsplash of the bar. The paintbrush was dropped and instantly her french manicured fingers went to shut off the water. Dripping wet from her face to chest she felt the tightening of her jaw. While the waterproof mascara on her spider length lashes held up the barely there foundation took the look of being caught in a sudden downpour she had no chance in being prepared for. Her index finger went under the faucet and found what was the culprit. Tape did not get there on its own. She pulled the orange electrical grade strip free from the new stainless steel spout. Turning on her the heels of her flat sandals she found the celadon eyes pinned on her as expected.

“You know how old that is getting?” Her hands rolled progressively faster while the sticky tape was left with no choice but to submit into a small tight ball held prisoner between her palms. “It is not funny. Really…” A bank shot was made on the small waste basket beneath the bar. “It is losing its effect.” Long arms folded in front of the tall womans chest while she stared down her boss across the room where he stood. “Do you know that you had a maid of honor looking like she lost a dunking contest after...A-F-T-E-R she was ready for the wedding that was only an hour away?”

Jolie watched Lyonel as no movement was made on his part. The silence between them only served to increase her irritation with him while she waited for his reaction. She knew what to expect in this case just as in all the others. The countdown began in her head. Three, two and drumroll…

Lyonel reached for the jacket that was laying over the shipment box that listed monogram linen napkins, custom menus and business cards on its inventory and shipping receipts. The tall killer slipped the jacket over his broad shoulders and adjusted it with a tug back then pull forward while the hard caps of muscle beneath flexed. Once it was comfortably on and zipped up the right corner of his mouth went up in a slow half grin. He really tried this time but he couldn’t hold it back. Soon as he looked at her he chuckled and ducked. The salt shaker was in mid air heading straight for his head but he was too quick.

“Your wife really deserves an award for putting up with you. I think I am going to call her and tell her so.”

Jolie reached for the matching pepper shaker instead of the cell phone resting next to the blender but it was too late. The proud West and businessman was across the room in his long stride that went with being closer to seven feet than the six he arrived at several years back. The beep of the door alert being activated with his exit told her the standoff was over for the moment. Black curls bounced back and forth as she shook her head and scooped up his cell phone in her hand. A one handed text was in the works on the way to the salt shaker waiting on the floor. It was then that the shiver of the communication device pulled her eyes to the screen. Her meticulously shaped brow lifted. In a few long steps of her own she pulled the door open and found he was nowhere to be seen. Next option was to reply on his behalf and send another out to the one who always found him come hell or high water.

-Thank you for the heads up. Be in contact with him soon.-

Jolie figured that would work. She didn’t bother to ask the woman if she was going to stop back in the salon for another touch up. It wasn’t exactly her cell phone to begin with. The man needed to lose about three of the five he found the need to have.

-It’s Jolie. He skipped out of here after another prank. Water faucet and tape again. Anyhow, he got a text saying Mr. West is back in town. Can you find The Joker and let him know? You are due for an appointment by the way. Call the salon-

Once the text was sent to Eva West, who just so happened to be her boss's wife, she turned off the phone and would leave it that way until she handed it back to him.

[Wolfgang]

West Towers
Feb 15th
11:46am

There was a knock at the door and through the wooden divide the guest waiting outside might hear the sound of a wooden chair being dragged across the floor, and the faint rustle of plastic. Lyonel was captured on the surveillance camera, a small red light blinking at him from the top right-hand corner of the hallway, “Just a minute,” Wolfgang called from inside.

Twenty-three seconds later, Wolfgang opened the door wearing an old white t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. Perhaps the most peculiar part of his outfit was the pair of white gumboots, a long plastic apron, and yellow dish-gloves. In his right hand, Wolfgang held a small, black, double-edged push knife with a silver T-handle. His gloves and apron were covered in blood, and to his back, an overweight man in his late forties, with thinning black hair and grey stubble sat strapped to a chair with enough duct tape to hold an ox down, “come in,” the shadow summoned, “we are almost done here.”

“Shut the door,” Wolfgang instructed as he returned to his battered and bloody houseguest, “Johnathan this is Lyonel, Lyonel, this is what happens to people who steal from me!” The tall vampire shouted before pausing a moment to thumb blood away from the tethered man’s right eye.

“I’m going to ask you one more time, the money that was meant to be waiting for me at the airport, my airport, Jon, where did it go?”
Wolfgang ripped the duct tape away from the man’s mouth and pulled out what looked like a screwed up sock before he waited for Jon to speak up. The man was missing three fingers, had been recently blinded in his left eye, and there on his lap sat one of his ears, “No?” Wolf shrugged before slamming the push-blade into Jon’s neck, “time’s up.”

Wolfgang then removed the apron and his gloves to discard them against the plastic protected carpets and crossed the room to the edge of the sheet where he stepped out of his boots. He waved Lyonel into the den and poured out two shots of whiskey into a shallow glass with ice, “Spoiler alert, I found the money,” he smirked, “can I get you something?”

[Leiren]

He's here

It doesn't matter.

You will always love him

But I don't belong. I never did.

You never will, it doesn't make it stop.

--
Leiren looked up at Paragon with a pain in her heart. She wasn't angry, she knew it would come, she knew that things would never work out too. No matter how much she'd grown in the last few years it didn't change anything. She was nothing but a crazy to everyone around her who knew her and everything she loved destroyed what little bits of sanity she had left. People came and left her life, she tried dating, she tried a lot of things actually, but what was there still pained and what wasn't there would never be there. Another door closed, because to have it open time after time only to watch it be slammed shut was too hard.
---

You can go home and sleep. You don't mean anything to him now and whatever he meant to you will go away with sleep until he's gone.

Yeah. Sleep. I don't need the mementos anyway right?

(The feeling of warmth of another wraps itself around Leir. A hug from a ghost in her mind.) You'll live.

I know. I'll forget eventually right? I just want to forget them all.

I know, Leiren, but you can not join me yet. Soon lovely. Soon.

[Eva]

Eva blew the stray wisp of hair out of direct line of vision she pulled the pick from between flawless lips and inserted it into the lock with a flick of her wrist the lock popped and the door swung open a quick look about the room found nothing more valuable than a few pretensions oil paintings that Eva shoved into her bag and started toward the door.



Harry scratched then hitched up his pants it had became a habit as of late The growing bulge of his belly and ever expanding waistline due to the late night feedings and coffee he loved with sugar and cream it was due to happen . He poured the last drop from his Thermos into his handy insulated spill free cup as he stepped outside the camera room he rounded the corner to come face to face with a leggy dream walking down the hallway He started to speak but before he could get one word out of his mouth to ask the brunette what she was doing there she had bent sending a canister directly hat Harrys feet he had only seconds to mutter "Ohhh **** "before the percussion grenade went off he fell backwards his head striking the wall his coffee spiraling in a slow circle by his unconscious head as the woman stepped over him reading the text on her phone.


You could call Eva West many things Beautiful, crazy, cruel, impatient. impertinent and a Thief amongst many other things . One thing she was a expert on and that was Lyonel West she did not have to guess where he would go if he knew the old man was in town. He would be where the old man was and Evas knew Wolfgang would usually make himself home in the West Towers Penthouse . She walked outside of the Office building she had been in helping herself to and looked both ways its security systems she had already disabled . Within a blink of the eye she was strolling across West Towers Lobby She hit the elevator the wait seemed excruciating as each floor ticked by .

Eva emerged from the elevator and Went straight to the Penthouse door she didn't bother knocking just used her key. What met her eyes when she walked in made her pause . She stopped ...Eva eyes the blob on the chair with a curve of her lip she her hand automatically checking to see if her gun was ready not out of fear that Wolfgang would do anything to her but more of a knee jerk reaction to the memory of how she became a West
"What did he do Wolf steal your Cherrieohs ?" she asks blandly as she moved over to kiss her husband lightly on the cheek. She gave her sire a wry but wary smile .