Path of the Vampire forum

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Temperance stood in the one place she always loved. The spotlight beaming down upon a darkened stage in The Metronome's VIP lounge. Five inch high black patent heels shinned to perfection. Flecks of sliver in the sheer of her dress glistened as her hips swayed to the piano players song. Her normally short wavy bob pinned back in various places. Bangs short and choppy at best not to hide the profile of her face. Crystal blues locked on the black sheen of the musical instrument. Her voice carried throughout the surround sound speakers attached to every wall. She was in a trance during the tune. She was in absolute bliss. To listen, every gentle ivory key stroke fall. Slow and Quick as they pulled the strings to fill the room in sound. Eyes often closed and fingers danced in the air as if she were to play the song on her own. Though, Temperance could not play the piano well at all, she adored the beautiful tone of such a large beauty. This was her place. This was where she belonged, wrapped with lyrics. It was a beat to her unbeaten heart.

Red carpet masked in the low lights around the crowd as they wandered into the space to hear the woman sing, "Summertime". Temperance had kept these plans on the hush as she was more inclined to see just who would be drawn to the evening of jazzy beats. Security was already in place at the front door to escort those on the list. Waiters and waitresses adorned in a smooth black button down jackets were assigned to every table so the patrons did not have to wait for their delicacies. The bar was stocked with the topmost selections and two barmaids. Alena (Temperance's enthralled human) sat crossed legged on a tall bar stool at the end of the counter. She was paid a hefty sum from the Allurist to act as blood-doll for the night. Alena was assured that no one would do any more damage than that. Alena's eye roamed the room, fingers twisted in the length of blonde locks, while opposite hand held a cold drink.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
So hush little baby, Don't you cry

One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
And you'll spread your wings and you'll take to the sky
But 'til that morning, there ain't nothin' can harm you
So hush little baby, Don't you cry

--song to finish in next post--

Although Enver and Alex had no way to know that their thoughts were along the same vein, pun intended, Alexandrea Quartermaine was musing over much the same when it came to the vampires that shared her path. At one time the Metro was THE place to be and Alex and her friends had spent almost ever night there. There seemed to have been Allurists coming out of the walls back then. But just like the Quartermaines, Allurists seemed to have become a rarity.

And as the blonde stepped into the club, all she saw at first were humans. A few vampires were around she could sense but she didn't see anyone she knew. It was just like the last time she had come by the club at Mardi Gras. The familiar faces just weren't around anymore.

But then Alexandrea heard the voice of an Angel and followed it to the piano where she saw her beloved mentor, Tempy. She waved at the lovely brunette with a grin and admired the outfit and the hair of her fellow Allurist. Her own hair was just curled and pulled up off her face and the dress she wore had been worn before but Alex had lost a lot of interest in things like fashion and shopping in the last few months.

She wondered if it meant she was finally growing up. She certainly hoped not.

Granted, she seemed to have a lot more strength of will lately, and was able to say 'no' a lot more easily than she used to be, but that wasn't the only thing that made someone 'mature'. Alex frowned a slight bit. She was going to go out of her way tonight to be the fun party girl she used to be when she had first discovered The Metronome Club. She stepped closer to Temperance and waited for her to finish the song before wrapping the other woman in a hug.

Full image of Alexandrea's Dress:

Kira had decided that this SoA get together was what Reggie was looking for. He wanted to meet more people, and he always seemed interested in the fact that she dressed up for parties. She sighed, this was a dressy event. She informed Reggie of it, she suspected the last time he ended up with a nice outfit, the shop people helped him so she was sure he would have no problem finding something to wear. Her on the other hand...

She looked over at Tessa's ghostly form. "Guess I'll leave the dress in your hands, so to speak." she said with a sigh.

"Oh do try to sound a little more excited about this." Tessa replied with a grin.

Kira wondered if she would regret putting the female half of her wraith in charge of this, she would have thrown a fit later if Kira had tried to do it on her own and it did not fit into what Tessa thought she should wear.

In the end, Kira wore a rather feminine looking dress ( Front - Back ), at least she picked the necklace out on her own.

Kira stared at herself in the mirror, "This isn't me." she muttered.

"You say that about every dress." Tessa snapped, "Now fix your hair and makeup."

Kira grumbled as she sat down at her vanity, "Such a waste of time." she said, having to go through the process of curling her hair, while it was already wavy normally, it didn't look pretty as far as Tessa was concerned, not to say her hair wasn't smooth. She pulled her hair back in a loose updo, with a couple of curls on either side of her head. Her makeup was light, she didn't really like dealing with makeup and she normally had Dave do it for parties, the eyeshadow was a light purple to go with her dress.

"There, am I done now?" Kira asked.

"Yes, now go show Reggie so he can have a heart attack." Tessa replied, disappearing through the wall.

Kira rolled her eyes. She left her room, she could just float around and no one could see her feet anyway, she looked like a ghost though. She suppose she could float around once at the Met. Once out in the hall, she looked towards Reggie's door. "I'm ready, are you?" she called out.

Reginald woke up early it was still daylight when he sat up sitting on the floor he was sleeping on. He got up and moved over to his closet and pulled out the suit he had bought for the occasion. Bringing it over to the bed he laid it out on it and just stared at the clothing. He wasn't really used to this sort of thing and he only dressed up nice on one of his dates with Kira. Still even then he never dressed up this nice, he looked it over once more before sighing and picking it up. He quickly changed into his suit then made his way downstairs to the bathroom using the mirror there to fix the suit which was difficult to do since he could only see the clothing and not himself. He frowned and then took a comb and went up to his room and sat down on the bed chewing on his lip nervously.

This was going to be a big event and that meant more people than just him and Kira. He was going to screw up he knew it, he wasn't social enough for this but he really wanted to meet new people. Well new vampires and see if he could make some friends. His head shot up and looked towards the door as it opened to reveal Kira in her dress and he gulped. His eyes wide as he stared at her for a moment before he spoke. "Yeah, all done except for my hair. I can't really comb it because I can't see it." He told her holding out the comb to her hoping she could help. Damn she was beautiful and those photos he was shown of her at other events didn't prepare him for her beauty in the flesh. She wore the clothing well.

Dru had just joined SoA, and she mainly joined for the social part. There wasn't anything allurist related she needed to know that she couldn't ask Kira about or Alex. Extra support wouldn't hurt either. She could use more friends, but she learned not to open up about what she believed to be how she came about. No talking of the old Dru, her being the new Dru. She would just avoid talking about herself at all costs.

The house was kind of lonely now that Kira had moved out to that farm but if her sister was going to be happy, she had to get away from anything that David had access to. She hoped she could be happy.
She took out the dress that she had made for herself, but have had no reason to wear it. She put it on, and looked in the mirror. Well it wasn't really a mirror. It was more like a computer screen with a camera on it. She made it so it acted like a mirror while looking at it. Making them for Kira's dance practice area at the lounge as well, but those were a bigger scale. It certainly comes in handy when Dru was there, no strange questions about why she wasn't seen in the mirror since she was there a lot.

Dru finished her hair and makeup, looking down at her Mini PomPom, giving the fluffy white puffball and pet before heading downstairs. She asked her thrall to stop by to take care of the animals while she was gone. She was still getting used to having a thrall. She tried to stay away from him until she figured out how to deal with him.

Never mind that. She quickly headed out to the Met. She looked around, not seeing anyone she knew in the front area. She wasn't sure if she was here before them or they were in another area. She had never left the front booths any other time she had been here.

She stayed in the shadows mostly. No desires to take anything out of this moment other than to hear her love singing again.. It had been too long since she saw Temperance being..., well, Temperance. The sound of her voice was one of the first things she had noticed when they first met and here it was again. Not the confused, sometimes angry tones they shared when she first returned from her own 'walkabout', but the tones that touched deep within.

Zodiac had gone basic black for the evening. In a city that had its fair share of goths moving about, one more hardly stood out from the crowd. Her glaring colors discarded for one evening and her beloved shades of purple gone from her face and hair. All just to melt into the background and not be disruptive or causing issues.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
So hush little baby, Don't you cry

She sang along in her thoughts, now locked down and guarded. She remembered her singing this a time or two as she got ready to go out for the evening. How many times had she heard her singing along like that? Too many or not nearly enough?

Her eyes glanced to the bar where the one server who had seen her was picking up a drink order for some table in the room. A simple card tied with a small violet ribbon to a single rose waited for Temperance to finish her performance for the night.



The card read in violet ink. There was no way she would not make a small statement she had been here. As the gypsy saw it, Tempy was in therapy of a sort. One of the mind and the spirit and she was making progress very nicely. Zodiac smiled softly. She imagined loving a gypsy like herself could be downright stressful at times to someone like Tempy. Drama seemed to find Zodiac, either by her own bad choices or just walking in a room and saying hi. The mystic had done her own healing as well. Sometimes she wondered if she was poison to the allurist, but it did not dim the love she had for the allurist any less. She had not pushed or crowded Temperance since her return. The woman knew the door was always open and Zo was just a mental whisper or a text away if needed. They were talking again, she was coming back to being her old self again, the rest of it would wait for another night. She would not spoil this moment.

The alarm on her watch softly sounded. Telling her the shadows she had formed around herself would soon fade away. Deftly she wove her way around the people in silence and slipped around a corner just as she came back into sight of others. To any who had seen her, she must have just stepped in. Zodiac took an empty chair and moved it against the wall closest toward the stage and sat down. Crossing her legs as she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. With her hearing, she could still hear Tempy singing in the main room on the other side.

One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
And you'll spread your wings and you'll take to the sky
But 'til that morning, there ain't nothin' can harm you
So hush little baby, Don't you cry

Her face relaxed as she took it all in.

"Excuse me? Can I get you anything?"

She opened her eyes and saw the server standing next to her chair. Zodiac lifted a finger for patience and pulled a pen and pad from her purse and wrote the woman a quick note.

I am fine, thank you. Don't mind me. I am just falling in love again, is all.

The woman stared at the note with a hint of confusion in her eyes. Zodiac just leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes again.

The pair worked diligently trying to get the specs of the floor above, Becky, her human thrall she often referred to as BeBe, held one end of the measuring tape while she held the other end, going room to room taking measurements of the space. They shot off shoot ideas about color schemes and décor options back and forth.

“Wooden floors?” Bebe offered up to Crissy who just returned a look, not just any look but a look that said no way.

“Wooden floors have been done to death; there is no pizzazz in that. I was thinking marble.” She shot back to the other woman.

“Yes but hardwood floors would offer a more home style feel instead of an instructional feel.” The mouse brown haired girl retorted, “And don’t you want to have a nice home-style feel to the place?”

Cristiana did not object this time, the look spewn across her facial features said she was going to give it some thought, muse over the matter in question. “What about the walls? Should we flat paint them one color or make every room a different style or feel?” Cristiana was starting to listen more to the thrall since she had been around for such a long period of time.

“While it would be easier to paint the whole place one flat color, and probably cheaper in the cost as well, I think many colors would hold a transgression allure to it. Also, give a less clinical feel to the place. Besides, we don’t want the pool area the same as the classrooms.” The young girl offered up to the raven haired master. She got a nod of approval from Cristiana since it was what was on the mind of the woman.

“Let’s take these specks down to the office and begin the tedious process of mapping a floor plan, getting color swatches and paint textiles together.” Cristiana said rolling the measuring tape backup and grabbing her clip board off the floor making a few final notes onto the paper. She headed down the lit spiral stairway onto the main floor of the club. It was then she remembered the event going on within the club itself. She silently cursed herself for forgetting. Bebe looked to Cristiana in question, to whom Cristiana nodded that she should head to the party and Crissy would follow in soon. She needed to take a moment to gather herself before heading in herself.

Bebe wandered toward the V.I.P. Room where the majority was gathering. Bebe was always presentable as per Cristiana’s request. It was more a business attire then party goer ready, but it would make due. Becky wore a fashionable layered sleek skirt with a flirty purple blouse tucked under a matching black blazer. The heels were silver to match the accessories she wore taking away some of the dark colors of the outfit. When she stepped into the room, she placed her clutch onto a table ordering a virgin variation of one of the alcoholic beverages the bar provided. She was pleasantly surprised the other co-owner was up on the stage singing so harmonically, Crissy very rarely sang.

Cristiana took off the royal blue blazer in the office, discarding it onto the back of the chair behind the desk. She opened the draw with the quick get yourself together emergency kit she put together just in case. That drawer had come in handy more times then she could count on one hand. She spritzed her hair with the water bottle once it was down from the bun, mainly to get rid of the line of demarcation where the originally ponytail holder had been. With a quick blow dry, her hair hung down below her waist in cascading waves. The springy curls looked almost wild but much manicured. She reapplied some of the makeup that had worn off since she’d applied it that morning when she woke up and headed down to the wedding boutique, before coming to the club itself. Red lips, shadowy casted eye lids over her violet hue eyes, the slightest hint of a pinkened cheek and she was party ready facial wise. A quick spray of the perfume, Gucci Guilty, and she no longer smelled of the work she had been doing all day. Not that she often ‘smelled’ but when you headed home in the wee hours of the morning just before dawn broke in the sky there was a distinct feeling of work that made you feel like you smelled of it. With a quick spray of the perfume, that feeling went away leaving an invigorated Crissy in the wake of work Crissy.

At the doorway she stopped to text someone to come down to the club before slipping the stiletto strappy heels onto her feet. The bounce out the door was her balancing on one foot while attaching the strap to the buckle. A simple classic little black dressshe’d wore under the blazer made for a prefect evening out attire, she was ready for the gathering.

As she approached the V.I.P room, she stopped to order a round for the room to be delivered immediately at the cost of the house while she took one of her specialty flavored brandy from her private stock. Slipping in, she headed for the table Becky sat at waving to a few people. Quiet, as to not disturb someone she thought so highly of but also seen as a mentor and business partner, she sat down beside her assistant listening to how beautifully Temperance Avila sang, something she had heard only a scant few times in the long past which she’d known the woman.

As he sat nestled on his couch, catching up on episodes of Dr. Who he had saved on the dvr, his phone vibrated on the table alerting him of a text. It was Crissy, telling him to get to Met. If she had felt obliged to tell him to come, he would be obliged to grace her with his presence. He slipped into a suit more fitting for the office than the club and drove the vibrant building, he ran his hand through his hair giving it that intentionally messy look and a quick spray of aqua de gio he was ready to enter.

The beautiful voice of Temperance's voice immediately caught his attention as he scanned the room for Crissy. She was making her way to the V.I.P. lounge and it wasn't long before he was right behind her. "Boo" he whispered quietly in her ear before laughing and embracing her in a hug. "She has a beautiful voice, no?" he nodded towards Tempy before taking a seat. There were many faces in the club he did not recognize, it wasn't long ago that he had joined the SoA so the lack of familiarity wasn't a surprise.

He raised his gin and tonic in a toasting manner, giving the members a smile "To beautiful faces and a beautiful night, yes?" He drained the glass in a single swallow before sitting down and lighting a cigarette, turning his attention to Crissy once more "can we smoke in here love?" a grin creasing his lips as he inhaled deeply.

The scent of his cologne gave him away when he tried to creep up behind her, but she jumped slightly anyway. Mainly because he was close enough to whisper into her ear the one word. He steeped around from behind her to show himself and she cracked the faintest of smiles.

“Evening.” The one word came out. Her arms wrapped about him in a hug, patting him on the back like she would with a friend or childer. She motioned to a seat at the table sitting back down herself, “She does.” It was rare she got up to perform, Temperance that is, but a special treat for all those that knew she could sing.

When Emeritus made his toast, Crissy rose her glass in the air swallowing all the contents of the glass. She looked over to the bartender pointing to her table, so that both her glass and Emeritus’s glasses were filled right away. Within a moment, a fresh batch was delivered and the old glasses were removed from the table. There was definite perks to owning an establishment like this verses being a normal patron. Namely, the service was exceptionally better.

“You look handsome tonight Em.” She said trying to calm down a touch. Being inside the club when it was busy tended to make her a bit jumpy, a bit nervous. On nights like these she let the staff do their thing while she caught up on the business within the office. Knowing Em, he’d love the compliment and even expand on it making his ego known. He was one of his own greatest fans, which amused Cristiana that he had so much confidence in himself. It was a rare gift as so many in the city lived in doubt and fear. Cristiana leaned close so he could hear her pointing out the other members of the Society of Allurist. Enver; who she believed owned the movie theater in Cherrydale, if her memory served right. Alexandrea who owned Quartermaine’s Custom in the 8th Dimension Mall, which was not but a few blocks from here. Kira, but she didn’t mention a business because she was uncertain if Kira owned a store, her memory could not recall. Since Cristiana did not know the male with Kira she skipped past him giving a slight shrug to let Emeritus know even she didn’t know who the gentleman was. The new student, Crissy hadn’t spent much time with yet was Drucilla. She had saved the best for last, Zodiac. The woman was so dear to Cristiana, the sincerity bled out into her voice when she spoke of how Zodiac owned the tea shop in Honeymead market and how close the two were. Zodiac was of the rare few she did adore in the city. She tried to catch Zodiac’s attention to wave her over to the table to meet Emeritus, somehow she thought he’d like how eccentric the woman was.