Drink 'til You Drop [Lucifer]

[Penelope (DELETED 7534)]

The black dress wasn’t so much a dress, as a dressing. It was pulled over a skin-tight black slip, hanging off Penelope’s shoulder even as the material billowed out behind her, whipping in the chilled wind as she turned the corner. It was closer to one in the morning than midnight – the woman had gone to work for a few hours before coming home to shower and dress. There was no need to go to sleep. For someone who’d mostly been a night owl before she’d been turned the change in lifestyle didn’t bother her much. In fact, it was more of a boon. There was no ingrained expectation to go to bed at a reasonable hour, or get up early to look like a functioning human being. Nine to five jobs no longer applied. For the Killer, even the sunlight didn’t provide a solid boundary.

The boots thunked on the pavement as Penelope made her way toward the bar. The Handle Bar. When she wanted to feed she would go to a club somewhere. Most clubs were not places she liked to hang out, but they were the best places to find a good hot meal. Sometimes they were willing, sometimes they were not, and Penelope still could not decide which she liked best. It was like having to choose between chocolate and coffee. She never could have chosen between coffee and chocolate.

The Handle Bar, however, was where Penelope went to have a good time. It was where her people hung out. It was where she met like-minds. The men were respectful; they were just as happy to talk shop, and didn’t spend their time trying to get their hands in Penelope’s pants. If they tried, she’d break their fingers, and more besides.

It was a weekend night and the pub was busy. It would remain busy until about four in the morning. Stepping through the doors was like stepping into another home, the clack of pool table balls meeting the old-school rock tunes radiating from the jukebox. The scent of beer permeated the room, mixed with the heat of life and sweat. Penelope headed straight to the bar and slipped onto one of the waiting stools, grinning at the bartender who knew her by name. All she had to do was hold up a finger and he knew what she wanted. A glass of their freshest, finest blood. She didn’t care what kind, so long as it was fresh.

WEARING

[Lucifer]

The vampire was new in town, so very new in fact that he had hardly explored any of the town and what it had to offer. Every night was a new adventure, a new experience for what the town of Harper Rock had to do for fun, for pleasure and for money. In his travels, Lucifer had discovered the hunting ground and quarantine zone but little else besides the occasional shop and bank. Among the walking, exploring and even breaking and entering, Lucy had heard whispers of different places worth checking out and meeting locals. Tonight was this place called ‘Handle Bar’ which sounded like a biker bar but until he had seen it for himself, Lucy would reserve any judgements he might have about the name or the possibility of big, drunk, dumb, smelly bikers.

Lucifer jumped out from the shower inside his Sanctuary based apartment, quickly drying and dressing himself. Tonight he stuck to a less formal approach with his attire, tonight was a simple dark shirt, dark long jeans and a coat. Lucifer grabbed his wallet, checking to make sure his card was inside before shoving it into his pocket and making a bee line for the door. Once he had locked the door and slipped the keys into his pocket, he pressed the elevator button a few times before sliding in the half opened doors and mashing the close and ground floor buttons.

Once out onto the street, it was only a quick ten minute walk from his apartment block to this Handle Bar place. As he walked in the doors of this place, it became obvious that it was both very different and very similar to his previous haunts as a human, with the booze and sweat smells in the air. The differences that he noticed instantly were things like the pool table, the jukebox and the tables rather than a huge open dance floor and a DJ making a bunch of noise that drunken people danced around to.

Lucifer took a seat on a bar stool just a few spots down from a woman dressed in black. For a minute or two, he rested with his elbows on the bar and his large hands covering his face as his mind wandered to how scruffy he was likely getting. He was drawn back to Earth when the bartender walked over and asked him what he was having to drink, to which he responded quickly and waited for his glass of drink. He was still getting use to not being able to drink alcohol, oh how he missed drinking booze but for now the blood would do until he found some way, any way really that he could resume drinking again.

Once his drink came, he sat upright and took a small sip. The copper tasting liquid was hard to get use to, important for his general health now but still hard to swallow, so to speak. Hopefully one day he would get use to it but for now he would take it one drink at a time. Unlike the other creatures of the night he had seen around the place, he lacked the uncontrollable hunger, that urge deep down inside to drink fresh and warm every day. Other desires of his were hard to control, like his need to harm others, it felt almost amplified. Such seemed to be the life of a vampire and one he would adjust to in due time, but for tonight he wanted to control himself and enjoy a drink while he explored more of this new location.

Wearing

[Penelope (DELETED 7534)]

The blood came in a large beer mug. Once upon a time they served the stuff inconspicuously, hiding the thick crimson contents that were far too deep a shade to be passed off as a bloody Mary. These days, with the masquerade blown right out of the water and the Handle Bar being a place that never was too fond of secrets anyway, the blood was served straight up.

With her sire backing many events and even throwing some of his own to support unity between vampires and humans Penelope did not think it beyond her freedoms to give away what she was. Not that she was particularly the sort to be told what to do anyway – though with her sire and with Dragomir as a whole she’d found a kind of loyalty, if only because she felt beholden to the one who’d given her what she wanted. She’d not seen Enzo in weeks – or was it even months? – so she doubted he’d care much what she did or did not do regardless. Though the mechanic did check the forum once in a while, and though she did use her tome to the family ‘bunker’ every now and again, she didn’t have much to do with the clan. They were all pretty quiet.

Not that it bothered her. Penelope was happy to strike out on her own, and she was not prone to bitterness. She did not cater to paranoia, and her self-esteem was right up there with the best egotists of the century. The best, not like those who were running the country next door.

The TV behind the bar was on silent, but the news was playing. It was some protest or another. Far too close to home, in Penelope’s opinion, but she was shudderingly happy to be where she was. She nodded to the barkeep as her slender fingers looped around the mug and she brought it to her lips; she didn’t even ask what vintage the blood was. When she took a mouthful, it tasted ******* fantastic regardless.

The same kind of mug was delivered to a man a few stools down. Another vampire, by the looks of it – she doubted a human would order blood and proceed to drink it with any kind of cool and calm. Surely it would taste horrible to a non-undead. Her curiosity piqued, Penelope slid on over and perched herself beside the guy.

”Best blood in town, so I hear,” she said with a toothy grin, her voice sultry and deep.

[Lucifer]

Many years ago during a long holiday to other countries, Lucifer had learned to play pool and darts. For the most part he was skilled enough at the games but frequent visitors to the bars could easily kick his *** at either game. In truth he had mostly learned them as a way to impress women or at least give an opportunity to strike up a conversation. Lucifer like most humans had skills he was proficient in but also skills he lacked any real skill with. One proficiency was his ability to draw out torture over a week or longer, eventually killing his victim with fire which left little to no evidence. One such skill he never really developed was pub games and sports. Many things have points in common but Lucifer honestly did not give a care in the world about sports and what not so he never truly bothered enough to test his skills.


As a vampire now, Lucifer was almost certain he could beat those playing pool or darts with little to no effort. Every human sense was amplified, like smell and hearing, both of which increased enough to make hunting for dinner a now boring task. Who wanted to chase someone when you could hear and smell them so easily that there was no challenge at all? All this boredom was in a sense, a good thing because it meant a jog in the dark to find a snack or slinking into a bar during the night for a meal. Either the jog or the bars were ways that got Lucifer out and about this new location so regardless of how boring it seemed, he still did it. This was the first time in his life that he could ever recall being alone though, like truly alone with no people at his house or spending the night clubbing with random people he met along the way. He was at a crossroads deciding if he liked or disliked all this alone time because like everything it had pros and cons.


Memories flooded his head of all the wild nights, the hot and sweaty bodies, the yelling over the music and the drinking. The more he thought about it, the more Lucifer realized he only had a handful of true friends, the kind that would do anything for him and the rest of these so called ‘friends’ were simply just hanging on to him because with his reputation he got into any club he wanted and always got VIP kind of treatment. Thinking back on it now, it really did make sense as they never invited him around for coffee or anything like that, they just texted him at night to ask him which club he was going to show up at that night.


Something or someone moved out of the corner of his eye, ripping his attention back to the bar he was currently sitting in. Words flowed from her mouth but it took almost a full minute before Lucifer’s brain kicked into gear enough to comprehend what was said to him. His hands had clenched slightly at first, an instinct reaction from his line of work, but he tried to calm his nerves as quick as they happened. He turned on his bar stool some so he was sort of looking at the woman and at the bar in case he wanted another drink. With a gentle smile, he thought about the words to say before they came almost rushing out.

“Oh yeah? I’m new at this so I’ll have to take your word on that. Unless you want to show me around and introduce me to the less impressive kind of blood.”

His voice was calm, almost neutral in tone when he first started to speak before it became more excited and some might even say flirtatious. Despite the fact he always seemed to end up flirting with women, he was fantastic at taking no for an answer. To seem more polite, he first almost bowed his head at the woman before offering up his literally cold dead hand, should she wish to shake as an introduction.

“So you got a name pretty lady or do I need to just make one up for you?”

His eyebrows rose with interest, his smile slowly fading into more of a furrow as he tried to study this new person beside him. Clearly vampire the way she was holding a mug of blood but everything else was hard to pick up on which was another skill that normally came easy for him. He was no Sherlock Holmes but he was fairly skilled with first time impressions and so forth but in this instance, he was completely at a loss, which was fascinating for him.

[Penelope (DELETED 7534)]

Alone was a state of mind. Penelope would never have claimed to be ‘alone’, even if she didn’t have a bunch of good friends hanging off her arms wherever she went. It was a philosophy that she had talked herself into. No one was ever truly alone. They lived on a planet filled with other people and if one wanted company, it was just around the corner. Penelope flitted between groups of ‘friends’ like the latest trends, and just as easily found herself in a place like the Handle Bar, alone and ready to make new acquaintances. She lived alone, and that was how she liked it. Her own space, to do with as she wished. She rarely even brought men home to her apartment; she made them take her to their place.

A low laugh reverberated in Penelope’s throat as she swished the blood in her glass and took a slow mouthful, assessing the man curiously. He was smooth, of that much she could be certain. Suave, one might say. What he was doing in a place like this on his lonesome had Penelope’s interest piqued. The tone was not missed. As confident as Penelope was, and as much as she stood beside her fellow women in fighting for the rights of the maidens of the world, she still enjoyed men. She still enjoyed the compliment of a flirtatious tone of voice. Flirting was harmless. And anyway, she had approached him. To reproach him for his tone would be contradictory and, quite frankly, confusing.

”Mmm, I have a name,” she said. It wasn’t a common name.

”I’ll give it to you, but first I’m curious – what name would you give me if you were to make one up for me?” she asked. The suggestion of showing him around to introduce him to the less impressive kind of blood only filled Penelope’s head with ideas, scenarios that he probably didn’t have in mind. One short sentence, however, and she already knew one thing about him – he was new in town. So many people were. What was it about Harper Rock and its honey-like allure to the curious insects of the world?

[Lucifer]

The longer he sat here, the more he came to realize that being alone was actually a good thing in this instance. As of right now, it had allowed him to talk to a random citizen which is something he would not have done in the past but rather he would have been dancing or drinking with random women hanging off him. Some times between the alcohol, drugs and women it ended up days, almost a week since he had ventured out of his apartment. Normally he wouldn’t bring people back home but sometimes he did, when he knew his housemate was out of town. He had one of those relationships with his housemate that only ever seems to happen on the television, those ones where the roomies would sleep together for the hell of it but still have their normal lives and normal relationships. In truth it worked for Lucifer and Kate for a long time but they never bothered to try and explain it to anyone, since he never really had a relationship set in stone, more just one night stands and casual flings, it made sense not to talk about the weird and wonderful set up that these housemates had.

That was a lifetime ago now but Kate still visited him from time to time, never as often as before which was a definite good thing with his condition. As his line of work seemed to become increasingly more popular with each passing death, Lucifer decided to protect his friends and moved further away from everyone so they presented as less of a leverage style target in retaliation against his actions. Eventually Kate reached out to him and decided she wished to train in a similar way so she would be an efficient bounty hunter for cash only and Lucifer was all too happy to teach her but somewhere along the way, she learnt what he had become and that put a halt on everything between them. In actuality, her exact words were somewhere along the lines of ‘don’t ever come near me again or I will put a bullet in your skull.’ When Lucifer thought about it, it seemed logical to just simply avoid Kate rather than risk life and limb to attempt to persuade her.

It was the laugh that drew him back to reality, his eyes trailing along the bar before watching the glass pressed to the lips of the nameless woman beside him. As she spoke he took his own chance to sip at the blood in front of him as he listened intently at what she said. She said it was curiosity that sparked her seemingly interested question and he was all too happy to answer her. His lips curled into a soft smile, his dark orbs staring at her for a minute before he chuckled a little and gave an answer.

“Belle of course. Belle of the ball. Belle from beauty and the beast. Seems fitting from where I am sitting.”

There was a large probability he was entirely off the mark but he didn’t really care. Tonight was about fun and getting to know the town, some of the fun was meeting new people and even flirting had some fun within the act itself if done right. Should he overstep a line, he was hopeful that she would put him in his place and let him know that was out of bounds, but unless that happened he would remain his usual self.

[Penelope (DELETED 7534)]

Belle, balls, and Beauty and the Beast. If Penelope had grown up watching Disney, she might have been flattered. Instead, raised by her father, Penelope grew up watching sports and all the variations of Pimp my Ride – before Pimp my Ride even existed. She was her father’s daughter; a biker through and through, but a good man despite the bad reputation that he and his friends inspired.

The guessed name caused Penelope to snort, nearly spitting the mouthful of blood in her mouth back into its glass. She managed to swallow before she laughed, full-throated and genuine. The woman was thoroughly amused. The guess painted her as a frilly girly-girl, one who liked to read books and talk to tea-cups. A woman with endless patience and an open-mind toward monsters, willing to love them to let their goodness shine through. What a load of hogwash! Penelope was more likely to cut the Beast’s head off and take matters into her own hands.

”Oh that’s good,” she said, sucking in a breath in between bouts of laughter.

”That’s fantastic. But no. No, quite far from the mark there, buddy,” she said, sliding her glass of blood back onto the counter top to keep it from being spilled in all her frivolity. She held out a pale-skinned, cold hand, with skin that was nevertheless soft, and nails that were long even if the blood red nail polish was chipped.

”The name’s Penelope. Penny. Some people call me Poppy. Take your pick, really,” she said. Apparently, the name came from her mother, something that she had picked. Penelope couldn’t really remember her mother, though she’d done her research. Penelope – faithful wife to Odysseus, known mainly for her faithfulness. For so long she’d hated the name, until she’d accepted the more feminist view of the Goddess – she wasn’t just Odysseus’s wife, she was his match, his equal, and was known for her immense strength, warmth, and intelligence. That Penelope would claim.

”If I were gonna guess for you, I’d probably go with a Brock. Or Ken, but then Ken’s too clean cut, isn’t he? Maybe Steve…OH, or Hugh! Like Hefner. You strike me as a bit of a playboy…” she said, boisterous with her eyes gleaming. She was never above poking fun at strangers. If they couldn’t handle it, then she’d move on to someone who could.

[Lucifer]

Lucifer never really watched TV, ever, but he had seen a few movies and heard about a few from his friends. Most of his life from his teenage years onward was clubs and pubs, sometimes even hours at home gaming, but seldom a movie. In truth he only watched movies with company and it was never about the movie. The kids nowadays seemed to call this behavior ‘Netflix and chill’ which roughly translates to come visit so we can bang. Lucifer liked to think that they were more polite back in the day and in truth they often did start to watch a movie but boredom often prevailed which in turn would lead to a lot of inappropriate touching, followed by more inappropriate touching and eventually activities more focused on sex than anything else.

A character that Lucifer had managed to watch before distractions set in one night was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Depending on how people viewed her, she had many fine traits. She was intelligent, strong willed, always confident, with an attitude that allowed her to stand out from the crowd as she refused to succumb to everyone telling her what to be and how to act. Also she was never truly scared of the beast, where most people would flee in terror. Lucifer could appreciate the character and how she was portrayed. Not many people in the real world were ever like that anymore, everyone just followed the crowds like a bunch of sheep. Lucifer hated the sheep, life needed more rebels, more out there kind of people and less fools.

Her words, her laugh as she spoke, it made him chuckle as well. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as they shook. He had always been raised to believe that a firm handshake was an important mark of character. Penelope, the name was very far from his guess like she had said, but he didn’t mind one way or another.

“Penelope. I like it. Very lovely name indeed. And very far from the mark.”

Lucy let out another chuckle as she started to guess his name. Ken? Like the kids toy? Barbie’s dumb blond boyfriend. The more she spoke the quicker the chuckle turned into full blown laughter. After a minute of laughing, he took a swig from his glass, finishing the last mouthful and placing the empty glass on the counter.

“Ken is a bimbo. But Hugh I could work with. However it’s not that either, or Steve… My actual name is Ryan, but I’ve been Lucifer for a long time now. I answer mostly to Lucifer, Luc or even Lucy… And playboy isn’t entirely off the mark. I use to be quiet the ladies man.”

[Penelope (DELETED 7534)]

Penelope arched a well-manicured brow. Neither of them were drinking alcohol but there’d been plenty of laughter thus far. Whoever said people needed alcohol to have fun was quite clearly a dolt. Not that Penelope had ever said no to alcohol when it was something that she could consume, but she had never lamented the lack of it.

The slender arch of the brow was not given in response to the laughter, however. It was given in response to the name. Ryan, ordinary and yet respectable. But Lucifer? A name he had given himself, perhaps. Such a highly regarded name, in both religion and popular culture. Did the guy have tabs on himself? Shortened to Lucy, of all things. She could have laughed and teased him about deliberately giving himself a girl’s nickname, but there was something about it. Something that screamed mob. Didn’t those criminal underlords always have weird nicknames? This guy certainly did look like he had Italian roots.

”Used to be quite the ladies’ man? What happened? Someone cut off your balls? Oh! Did someone attach a chain to them?” she asked and, without compunction, reached out to take the man’s left hand, twisting it to and fro to look for the tell-tale glint of a wedding ring. She saw none.

”Why Lucifer though, can I ask? Something you gave to yourself or something someone else gave you? Fancy yourself a bit of a devil?” she asked, as curious as ever. How many reasons could a person have to name themselves after the prince of hell? Had he changed his name when he’d been turned, for reasons of disappearance and faked deaths, or had it always been the case? Lucifer. Fallen angel. Had he fallen from someone’s grace? There were far too many questions and the two hadn’t even got beyond each other’s names. Penelope knew when to bite her tongue, and now was one of those times. The teasing enquiries she’d already made were enough – and, depending on his answers, she’d know how far to push the limits.

[Lucifer]

With a flick of his hand, motioning towards his empty glass for the bartender, he indicated that he wanted a refill which was likely obvious by the look on his face. It had certainly taken time to acquire the taste for blood as it were, a week or more but now he could throw back a glass of blood without a second thought. He imagined many people were in the same boat at the time of their turning, what with the disgust at the whole drinking blood and the copper taste that filled their mouths, followed by the ever thickening consistency with each mouthful. In the least pun intended way, it was hard to swallow the first few times, but it got easier.

He watched her facial expressions after he finished speaking, it seemed obvious that she had questions but how many of them would she ask? How many would he want to answer? He was never known to be a liar but he did side step the truth if it was too much to deal with or just plain rough to try to explain. At this moment in the bar, it felt like they had all the time in the world so in the back of his mind he figured he would answer as much as she wanted to know. It might make or break a potential friendship, mostly because people and even vampires can be quick to judge others. Lucifer had hoped that she was not one of those people who would judge instantly.

As she asked her questions, he listened intently, taking each question in and considering his answer before just saying the first thing that came to mind. First was the teasing remark, of which he was ready to bite back with a response but waited to hear what she had to say before he answered. His eyes darted towards her hand as she grabbed his, twisting and turning it to see if he had a wedding band, a small flinch at first before he just relaxed his hand against hers. She hadn’t done anything to upset him, it was just a downside to being a trained hitman, the body is constantly ready to jump into action.

“Yeah, use to be. I’ve since settled that side of my life down a lot. It was no longer enjoyable. It was partly cliché if I am being honest, almost a ball and chain deal... Met someone, liked someone, someone left. End of story.”

Lucifer sucked in a pointless breath, thinking how best to answer the next question. He bought himself a spare moment of thought as the bartender bought back his glass and he took a long mouthful. How in depth into his life did he wish to be with this woman and what might scare her away before they did really get to know each other. Sixty seconds, sixty seconds of courage was all that was needed, a leap of faith so to speak. If he took sixty seconds of courage and just spewed out everything, it might end well or bad.

“Honestly, long story. Given. Mostly because the line of work I was involved in before I was turned involved torture. Not the fun, handcuff your partner to the bed kind, more violent. People who deserved to die, people who I thought deserved to die, I would kill them obviously. First over a few days I would flay their flesh from their bodies, burn them with searing hot pokers, force small stakes up under their nails, chop off toes and fingers and eventually when all was said and done, I burnt them. Alive if they had survived. Most I managed to control the bleeding, so they were still kicking and screaming as they burnt alive in their own personal hell of my creation... Thus Lucifer was born.”