Disclaimer: The author of the story has absolutely no claim to anything mentioned in this story aside from the outline of plot itself. And should BT ever be going back into production and need it for whatever reason I'd be too overjoyed to do anything but happily hand it over.
Summary: Even perky Goths sometimes need to unwind. As it happens some evenings start worse than others.
Big thank you needs to go to my beta Marlana for her swift (and very needed) help.
Friday Night Fever
(Or Easy Guide To Having Fun On Your Evening Off by Coreen Fennel)
At the time, it had seemed like a good idea. At least on the face of it. She hadn't seen Liz in ages and she hadn't made any firm plans for Friday evening anyway. And it sounded like fun.
Coreen sighed. One would think she would have learned by now not to take anything at face value. Pushing through the crowd in the club to get to where Liz and her friends, not totally unfamiliar faces unfortunately, were sitting she silently asked herself if she wasn't invited as the entertainment for the night.
Still, before she could decide to turn around and go have fun somewhere else, Liz spotted her. There was no way to get out of this now.
III
The nightclub was busy, as one could expect given the start of the weekend. He looked around, taking his time deciding the most opportune spot when his eye caught a familiar face. He smiled to himself as he stepped a bit closer, focusing his hearing on the girl rather than the heavy beat of the music.
The girl seemed to be there with her friends, if one judged by a group of young people, one of whom was gesturing the Goth to come closer. Oddly enough, she didn't seem happy about that fact. He frowned and decided to listen in.
"Hello, Coreen. It's been a while." The redhead who was gesturing earlier initiated the conversation.
"Hey, Liz. Nice to see you." The Goth looked around, assessing their faces. "Hi, everyone."
"Well, if it isn't Coreen, the mosquito girl."
"Nice to see you too, Jackie."
"Come on, not saying anything? We are dying for you to share some more of your strange news. Solved any more mysteries by seeing things?"
"I don't know about you, Riv, but I'm not seeing things." The girl was blushing even if her makeup and the lighting of the place did a fairly good job concealing it. She seemed distressed as she wrapped her arms around her body to shield herself from the inquisition.
"Sure, sure. So how is it going? Still looking for vampires?" The first girl shot the question at the Goth who began shaking ever so slightly.
Suddenly what the group was referring to became crystal clear. And seeing the usually perky girl so upset he hardly had patience for subtlety. Pushing the limits of human appearances, he approached the group.
III
Coreen was trying very hard not to let them get to her. That was something Vicki would have advised her. Unfortunately, the PI was much better at it than she was. Currently the whole process was limited to bravely trying not to allow any tears to fall. She so wanted out of there.
"Perhaps she doesn't need to look anymore." Suddenly she heard a very familiar voice next to her.
She turned just in time to see Henry, in his vampire mode, glaring at Liz. She didn't know if it was a vampire thing or a prince thing but she resolved to never do anything to deserve that look.
He scanned the rest of the group, still frozen in shock at what they were seeing. When he spoke next, a command rang in his voice. "You will remain silent unless told otherwise and do nothing to draw anybody's attention."
It was hard to decide if the words made any difference. With the way they were all staring at him, Medusa gazing at them wouldn't have changed their behaviour.
At that point she couldn't stand the tension anymore and, not caring about spoiling the effect, she hugged him. When she looked up, his black eyes were still unreadable but there was laughter playing on his lips.
"Everything all right, Coreen?" He asked quietly. She wasn't sure if it was just because of the close proximity or if he wanted the conversation to remain private.
Whatever the reason, she adjusted to a similar tone. "It is now. But from a strictly technical point of view, I'm not sure that was such a good idea."
"I don't see why not." He looked to the group again, his eyes once more wearing the expression she would pay not to ever be on the receiving end of. "Now, since I seem to have your attention. I will not stand for a friend of mine being ridiculed like this. I suggest you weigh your words carefully from now on, especially in matters you are more than ignorant in. Do I make myself clear?"
He was. Making himself clear, that is. As least as far as Coreen was concerned – it was a bit hard to judge when it came to Liz and her little gang. They were too busy being afraid to even twitch. For some wholly unexpected vindictive reason she felt an odd satisfaction with this state of affairs.
"Now," Henry's smile would have passed for pleasant if his gaze wasn't busy reducing the group to ashes a moment ago. "You will never be certain if you saw what you did or if it was just an illusion coming from the play of light and you will never be able to communicate what you saw to another person. You are free to behave as you will now. But you shall remember this night as a warning. I pray that it will at the very least improve the lives of those needing to share them with you."
The last line was added in a much more dismissive tone as Liz and her friends started blinking, looking around as if they had just woken from some nightmare. They became visibly more shifty when their eyes rested back on Henry but apparently they were at loss of what to do about it, as for all appearances, the man who stood next to Coreen was not an intimidating creature of the night but a young, handsome man smiling at his friend. And not just smiling – doing so as if the two were sharing a private joke of some kind.
"Can I buy you a drink, Coreen?" He tore her out of her thoughts with such a completely normal question she almost laughed. Still, after the way the night started, the drink didn't sound half bad.
"Sure why not." She managed to respond naturally enough. At least as long as there wasn't a certain PI around to point out to her what a horrible actor she was. Then, she let Henry lead her away from the group who was still busy figuring out what had just happened.
III
"What will you be having?" the vampire asked as they got to the bar with the Goth still being too relieved about her change of circumstances to switch on her talkative mode.
"What? Oh. I don't know." She absently looked around, noticing the bartender giving someone some suspiciously bluish concoction with a lemon slice. She turned to the man. "What was that?"
"Pardon?"
"What was that drink? The blue one?"
"Ah. That's Lagoon Bliss. Blue Curacao, coconut cream and Sprite."
"Sounds good." Before she even finished speaking Henry was handing the man the money, with some quick gesture she didn't quite manage to catch. A moment later two drinks were placed before them. She glanced curiously at the vampire. He smirked.
"If you like it, you won't need to order again and he won't hover waiting for me to order."
"Ah. Makes sense, I guess. So are you... I mean if you're here..." Great, now she was stumbling with her words. She sighed.
"If you're trying to ask if I came for dinner, then yes." He responded apparently paying mind to her embarrassment.
"Oh. You know, I could always offer. I probably owe you anyway."
"You don't owe me anything, Coreen."
"Which doesn't mean I can't still offer."
"Thank you for the generosity but I'm afraid I need to decline."
"Why? Not like I'm all that different from any other girl here."
"Oh, believe me, you are wonderfully unique on more than one level. And I'm afraid my decision stands."
"That's not fair."
"Show me a paper from your doctor clearing you to donate blood and I might reconsider."
"Are you trying to convince me that you ask every girl for that? Come on, I'm not that naive."
"I never meant to imply you were. But you wouldn't get one and this way you wouldn't be blaming me for unequal treatment."
"You are spending too much time with Vicki. That technique has her written all over it. And why wouldn't I? Get that paper, I mean."
"You are barely within the very bottom of the healthy weight limit, you have that heart murmur which, while harmless otherwise, would put the doctor on edge with this decision as he would worry about it developing into something serious and last week Vicki was sending you home early because you insisted on coming to work while fighting a cold. Which leads to the problem of your immune system being weakened."
"Hey, you wouldn't know that normally."
"If it was seriously impaired I would be able to detect that without any difficulty and even a slighter problem would be noticeable to some extent after a few minutes. I simply have the advantage of knowing to look for it. Besides, you haven't eaten a properly balanced meal today."
"I did!"
"Since when is chicken stir-fry a balanced meal?"
"I had a vegetable rice with that." She paused and analysed what he said again. "Okay. That was weird. How did you know?"
This time he laughed openly. "It doesn't take long to learn what Vicki's favourites smell like and, judging by the accusatory looks I've been getting, she doesn't like to eat alone. The scent hasn't quite worn off yet."
"Oh great. So I'm smelling like a Chinese takeout joint now? Just brilliant." The Goth did her best to convince the ground to swallow her. Unfortunately, it was disinclined to perform this merciful act.
"To humans you don't. And it's really nothing you should worry about."
"So you say." She felt her cheeks burning at that point and she had a feeling that she couldn't really blame it on the rather mild drink.
"It's no reason to feel self-conscious. Especially not with most of the people here smelling of sweat, alcohol and pheromones mixed in various proportions." She was still frowning but surprisingly enough she did feel a little better. "And that's without mentioning your friend who should really know better than to let her tomcat into her closet."
It took her a second to catch the implied message but when she did, she suddenly burst out in giggles, her own misery forgotten.
"Seriously?" He nodded. "That's just priceless. Gross, but priceless."
"Coreen, you aren't resenting the poor feline for its natural behaviour, are you?"
"Of course not. But if I'm ever going to her place again I'm definitely buying him a nice juicy salmon."
"I'm sure he will be glad to see his efforts appreciated."
She grinned before taking a sip of her bluish treat. Sure, Henry would probably sooner or later leave to feed and her evening would be shorter than she planned. But she still thought it wasn't a bad one. Not at all.
THE END
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