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Alexandrea could have sworn it was Rebecca. One moment the elusive Quartermaine was there at the train platform trying to pick Alexandrea's pocket and, in the time it took Alex's eyes to blink, in the next moment she had vanished. She sent to her Sire's mind, questioning her but received no reply.

Sundial had come by Alex's shop later that evening, and the two had discussed the head of their bloodline. It really had been Rebecca Quartermaine, Sundial had seen her as well. Neither had much information on the matter so, after having a visit and doing some trades, they said goodnight.

The next day, Alex had the same work and jobs to do as always. She put in her time at the store and at the art gallery, 'restocked' (stole) some new supplies, made some bombs, the usual. But as the night passed, the blonde grew restless. Locking up her workshop for the night, she waved to Breyanna at the register and went out to the mall. She doubted Rebecca would be shopping but she took a look around quickly to be sure.

She left the mall and started to search. Looking everyplace she had known Rebecca to ever go. It was a short list. After that, Alexandrea did a quick run through the sewers, ending within the catacombs. Alex needed a tracker.

The Allurist tried to think of any that owed her any favors but came up blank. The idea that maybe Madison would know someone crossed her mind and Alexandrea sent a quick little poke into her friends mind to see if she was free.

Using the fade portal in her lair, after a quick cleaning up, got her to downtown and Alexandrea headed south, just wandering the streets and looking at the people as they passed her by. Alex came to a stop when she looked up at a sign over the door to a Pub. Lancaster's.

With a smile, Alexandrea went in to the cozy tavern and went straight to the bar. "One Hurricane, please." Alex asked the barkeep while she looked around to see if Elliott or anyone else she knew was there. Someone who looked liked her friend Charlie from the back went into the store but Alexandrea couldn't be sure it was her.

Her eyes landed on the pool tables and Alex soon made her way over, putting a quarter on the edge of all three of the tables and then settling down at a close table with her drink.

A young man who had been leaning against a backpack on the table in front of him, stood up and wandered over. "What are you, some kind of Pool Shark?"

Alexandrea laughed, thinking of the shark in the pool in the mall and then gave the kid a straight face. "Do I look like a 'Shark' to you?"

She gave him the 'slow blink' and he grinned. "I guess not, I'll play you on all three tables at once. If you think you can handle it."

"Oh... you would be surprised what I can handle... Alexandrea said with a wink as her new friend went around matching his quarters to hers. She went to pick out a cue and chalk it up while they waited for their turn. She blew the extra chalk off and looked over at her opponent. "I'm Alexandrea. But please, just call me Alex." She held out a hand, offering to shake.

The backpacker nodded and smiled as he took Alex's hand and gave it a proper shake. "I'm Thomas and I'd rather you just call me Thomas."

"Fair enough, Thomas." Alex said chuckling. "I couldn't help but notice your backpack. Are you staying upstairs?"

"No, not exactly. Not yet anyway. I haven't talked to anyone about it yet. Just checking out the place first." The more Thomas spoke the more American he sounded. Alex was no expert but to her ear, the young man sounded southern, from West Virgina maybe.

"Oh, well I'm sure anyone who works here can help you with that. I see one of our tables is free, why don't you go ask the bartender while I set up?" Without waiting for any answer, Alexandrea went over to the table and paid for the balls. She arranged them quickly then leaned back against the table with her pool cue, waiting for Thomas to return.

Her competition for the game was back in short order, setting down a pitcher of beer and two glasses before joining Alex. "I don't mind sharing my beer but I am not going to buy rounds. Cool?"

Alex laughed and smiled at Thomas, nodding as she agreed. "That's very generous of you actually, and next pitcher is on me. But I get to choice the beer. Coin toss for break?"

Thomas nodded and fished a quarter out of his pocket and tossed it."Call it."

"Tails..." The coin spun a few times in the air, flashing the the bar's lights. Thomas caught it and slapped in on the edge of the pool table. "Looks like you get first break, Thomas. If we want to make any wagers on the game, now's the time."

A slight grin twitched at the young man's lips but he kept a straight face, nodding again. "Sure, I have a few bucks I can play with. What did you have in mind?"

CharlotteC wrote:

"Alex, are you going to take all this poor guy's money?"

Alexandrea was about to suggest they start at twenty a pocket when she heard Charlie's voice. The blonde grinned, happy to see her friend and hurried over to give her a quick hug.

"Charlie! How have you been?" Alexandrea had heard through the grapevine that Elliott had adopted Charlie, but hadn't heard about it from her friend directly, so she didn't mention it but she hoped that the young woman would bring it up so she could offer her congratulations.

A stream of obscene and unladylike curse words flew from Madison's mouth at the now empty circle before her. Puddles of oil were dotted around it, covered her fingers and streaks of the greasy substance marred the pale skin of her forehead, cheeks and throat. Bits of Scarlet Ammannia were strewn about, along with ritual knives that had seen better days. A light shone off the diamond teeth she had ripped out of the mouths of gangsters and purchased off the Moonlight Lotus Auction House.

Growling under her breath, not unlike how the demi-fae that had just escaped her command had done towards her, the vampire grabbed a bag of cat litter she had picked up from the corner store before coming out towards Tutella and began sprinkling it around the altar wherever there was oil put down. The dusty litter would soak up the oil and make it a bit easier to clean up.

Walking away from the altar to give the time for the litter and oil to mingle, Madison made her way to the washroom, care to not get oil on the new furnishings of her deep woods castle so she could clean what oil she able from herself. As she scrubbed away at her hands with industrial grade cleaners and abrasive sponges, her head tilted to the side when a familiar female voice filtered into her mind. A friendly smirk graced her face as she listened to what Alexandrea had to say. Looking down at herself and seeing that her hands were mostly free from the oily residue, she sent a message back to Alex, "I think some time away from the altar would do me some good. Let me finish getting cleaned up and then I'll be right there."

An hour later, too long for Madison's taste but she still wasn't sure she had gotten all the oil of of her even after a shower, the blonde telepath was walking into her place of employment via the fade portal that led into the manager's office from the Den. Coming out of the office, behind the bar, she spotted Alex after a quick scan of the surroundings over by the pool table. Accompanied by an unknown male and a female that set Madison's mouth into a tight purse of the lips.

CharlotteC was not one of Madison's favorite people. Back when they had been in Fifth Column together, she was one of the many that the woman had had a problem with. Like so many others, Charlotte, in her opinion, was one of those who liked to *****, *****, ***** but do very little to nothing to change anything about it. Her blind loyalty to an absent sire and leader also had set Madison on edge. While she liked Killian to an extent, she had very little respect for the man as a fellow vampire. He was more trouble than he was worth and ninety-nine point nine percent of anything that came from him was half thought out and sure to be abandoned quickly or fail immediately.

Shrugging off the thoughts and feelings, she slipped around the bar and headed across the tavern towards where the two women were jabbering on with the male. Of which, Madison was almost positive that he was human. As she drew closer, she caught the tail end of what the women were saying and shot Alex a bright smile, completely ignoring that there were other people there.

"Hogging up all the tables are we? Tsk, tsk. You know, as an employee of Lancaster's I should probably recommend that you leave at least one table open for the other patrons," Madison told her friend with a wink of an eye.

Before the blonde answered Thomas' question, another woman spoke up and asked if she was going after his money. The young student raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he shifted the weight from one from foot to the other impatiently. While he waited for the females to stop gabbing, he checked out the fish tank behind the bar. Only two lonely fish swam around inside and the human sighed. For some odd reason seeing the fish made him homesick.

His dad had always kept fish in the house, but growing up Tommy hadn't paid much attention to them. They were always dying. And Thomas hated getting attached to things that died. It was why he was always alone. Already having lost his mother as a kid, losing the rest of his family as a teen had made the young man leery of getting close to others. People just didn't live forever and Tommy was sick of everyone he cared about going and dying on him.

He returned his attention to his mark for the evening. The plan was simple, let her think she was conning him and then turn the tables on her and walk away with all the cash he could get out of her.

Meanwhile, Alexandrea was nodding to Charlie, the other Allurist's words confirming what Alex had already heard. "I'm so happy for you, and you look like you are doing well. I'm sure you'll be much happier with Elliott looking out for you than you were with Killian. I know Having Elizabeth take me 'under her wing' certainly change my life for the better. It's nice to be part of a family, isn't it?" Alex let go of the brunette, giving her an extra squeeze at the end of the hug. "Have you heard from Killian at all?"



His folks back home had always called him Tommy, and Thomas hated it. But he still thought of himself as a 'Tommy' when he chided himself, as he was doing now. "Maybe next time pick a mark that isn't such a social butterfly, Tommy..." was muttered under his breath to himself as yet another woman, a second blonde, joined the first two. "Oh lord. This could take all night." With a quiet groan, Thomas reacquainted himself with the pitcher of beer and filled his mug.


Madison was hugged in turn by Alexandrea, and given a kiss on the cheek with a chuckle. "If anyone else wants a table, they just have to buy me a drink first. That's all." One blonde winked at the other playfully. "You ladies should meet my new young friend, he's new in town. And Maddie? Seeing as you work here maybe you can help him out, I think he was hoping to get a room upstairs."


He noticed Alex was waving him over, and as Thomas joined the women he got a second look at the brunette and then even took a third look. He gave her his full attention when once he arrived at the small group, barely nodding at the taller of the blondes and Alexandrea made the introductions.

"Charlie, Maddie... This is Thomas. Thomas, these are two friends of mine who both happen to know the man behind the rooms upstairs you were interested in."


The young man grinned as he reached out to shake hands; "Well that's convenient. I wanted to stay in a room upstairs, if there are any still available that is."

The hug that Alexandrea gave her was returned warmly before rolling her eyes at the statement about the pool tables. The blonde allurist was probably the only vampire in the city that knew anything about Madison prior to her entrance into the hidden culture and society of vampires and everything that related to it. Both of them knew that while Alex was joking, she'd try to get a free drink out of anyone wanting a table and in the spirit of keeping the atmosphere of Lancaster's copacetic, if Madison had need to intervene, her word would be final without opposition.

Upon the introduction to the human male, Madison gave him a polite smile that didn't hold the warmth or brightness that the one for Alexandrea had held. Reaching out to grasp the man's hand, she kept skin contact brief but not brief enough to the point where Thomas hadn't noticed the difference in temperature between them.

"Wow, your hand is cold. You okay?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm fine, Madison stalled as she took her hand back and rubbed it against her jeans where they hugged the side of her hip, quickly coming up with a lie to tell the man, "The manager's office is like a friggin' ice box. Half the time I wear a sweater when I have work to do."

"But I'm not the one you want to talk to about getting a bed upstairs. Honestly, I haven't even been up there since the remodel. We keep the businesses separate for liability reasons and all that but I'm sure I can help get you situated if need be?"

Madison didn't have a clue about anything to do with the Backpacker's Bunk or whatever Elliot called the flophouse turned business that sat above the bar. She, in particular, wasn't too fond of vagrants. In her experience, people that didn't stay in an area long didn't always appreciate the fact that whatever they used while here still existed after they left. That and there was always the occasional occurrence of theft. But her opinions were neither here nor there and be it as it may that the businesses were structurally connected and owned by her boss, she kept her opinions to herself and pointed anyone asking about a bed towards the door that led upstairs.

Thomas nodded at Madison's explanation about her cold hands.
"Yeah, I hate how some places feel like they got to crank up the AC all the time in the summer. Hell, this heat isn't **** compared to back home. "

He was startled by the hug but he grinned at the cute brunette and repeated her name back to her, a twinkle in his eye. "Well hello Charile... you've got to be the prettiest "Charlie" I ever met."

Alex rolled her eyes so that only Maddie could see and grinned as the young human flirted with Charlie, then whispered into the other blonde's ear. She spoke loudly enough that both vampires could hear her but the human male could not. "I think Charlie has a new boyfriend..."

Charlie's attention to getting to the business of getting Thomas a room, brought Alexandrea back into the conversation and she grabbed up her cue. "We still didn't settle on a Wager yet, Thomas. What are the stakes?"

"Oh, I'm a student so let's take it easy and just play five bucks a game?"

To start. The man finished the thought to himself as he tried to look over Charlie's shoulder at her phone. "But why don't we let someone else take this table and get the next one? I'm anxious for Charlie here to take me upstairs and get me a room."

Chuckling, Alex just nodded and looked over at Madison. "When was the last time we shot a game, Maddie? Want to see if you still have what it takes?"

Charlotte moved to hug the human male and Madison looked to Alexandrea with a raised brow which was met with a roll of the other blonde's eyes after Thomas' cheesy line. Alex leaned towards her and whispered in her ear and Madison stopped herself from giving an unladylike snort in response. Instead she forced a chuckle that sounded as awkward as it was forcing it from her throat.

The other three went back to talking about the pool game for a moment, something Madison didn't really care about and thus her mind wandered for those few spoken words between them. She found her gaze running over the small crowd that had gathered around the stage on the opposite end of the bar. A young male, probably in his early to mid-twenties, with a mop of unruly curls hanging down about ear length that he consistently had to push back from his eyes was setting up at the piano. Madison debated going back into the office for a pair of earplugs. While the jukebox playing in the background didn't bother her, the piano sometimes did.

A familiar voice saying her name drew Madison out of her thoughts about the earplugs. Alex was looking at her and Madison quickly tried to recall the question she'd been asked first. Something about the last time she'd shot something. Given the company, the telepath made the assumption her friend was talking about the pool tables and not someone else. Either way, it'd been awhile since she'd shot a game of pool or a person.

"I don't really remember," she told Alex before starting to move around the table to grab a pool cue from their rack against the wall, "But I'm sure I can still kick your ***."