See bottom of work for authors notes please! Long time no see everyone, I wonder if anyone I used to know is still around... THIS IS AN AU PLEASE BE WARNED! Its a weird mix between coffee shop, university and just good old fashion supernatural? Who knows. Ash is pretty wildly egotistical also, be warned.

Ash wasn't really comfortable doing it this way.

He enjoyed the pounding bass and the push of people in clubs; the widening of eyes as he offered to buy the drinks. He enjoyed the thrill, the hunt, the brilliance that was being attractive enough and smooth enough to get any girl in a club to come home with him. There was something beautiful and seductive about willing prey.

So why was he assaulting a homeless man under a bridge at 3am? The answer was simple.

She had ruined the hunt for him.

It started two months previous when he'd opened the newspaper to see:

Vacancy: Barista wanted. 7.50/ph. Apply by phone or within.

It was so mundane that it made him laugh.

The entire situation was ridiculously vermin-like and disgusting, but the fact of the matter was that he really needed a job. He'd been banished from his home to 'prove himself' and the Redfern elders clearly had no idea what a world outside of the 17th century was like, or they didn't care because Ash had fallen sorely on his butt and he was broke. So he was living in a tragic studio apartment with Quinn and praying every time he went outside that he was hit by a bus made entirely of wood just to end his punishment.

"You won't last the week," Quinn said later that night as he picked grime from under his nails, "get a real job. Wasn't that the whole point of this," he motioned, "banishment?"

"Because hunting people down and killing them pays really nicely," Ash replied, "you've sure got that right. I need money, man."

"We agree there," Quinn grinned, "because you sorta owe me rent."

So Ash went in for the job and, unsurprisingly got it. It was the best he could do lacking any formal vermin training and even he had to admit that the 'trainee barista' work shirt clung to him perfectly. His manager would later confide that customer rates shot through the roof after Ash joined the work force, but this Ash already knew. If he could be the pride of his colony, he could be the pride of a coffee shop chain.

And everything was going fine - the hours made him want to cry and he'd spilt an obscene amount of cream on himself in the first week but after that it had gotten a lot easier. He expected he would see his face in the 'employee of the month' frame before long and sometimes he'd sneak glances at himself in the front windows as he left. By two weeks he was adjusted and not regretting leaving the colony.

"Coffee. Black. Large." The woman in front of him said 15 days into his employment and on the first day of his life becoming a living hell, "please."

"You know, you could probably make that at home," Ash said softly as he worked the till, "I mean, not that I'm complaining. Always happy to see a pretty face."

She rolled her eyes and pulled her bag further up her shoulders, "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm in a rush so, put it in a take-away cup, thanks."

Ash narrowed his eyes slowly. What he didn't know was that she was usually quite agreeable and that, having slept in and missed 15 minutes of her first lecture, she was actually just cracking skulls in an attempt to make up for lost time. All he could see was an average looking woman holding up his queue with her average, vermin nature and her completely stupid order. Also her attitude.

"Name?" He asked.

"Mary Lynette, but don't bother-"

He was already scribbling on the side of her cup though, slamming it down on the counter hard enough to show he was angry but gently enough so as to not spill any. God forbid he have to remake her order. She took it with a bitter smile, he shot back a smug grin, and she was gone. It was as she walked back down the queue that she noticed he'd scrawled M'lin, and she had to resist the urge to scream and kick shins.

Ash watched her storm off, practically able to feel her aura pulsing with rage. He took the next order with an exaggerated smile, content with the fact he'd ruined the day of such a self satisfied, smug little-

"Boy," Mary Lynette practically yelled as she slid into her seat in the common room, "it was awful, I can't believe the audacity-"

"Slow down, one word at a time," Her best friend Michele soothed, "what happened? And why were you late?"

Mary Lynette groaned, "Long story. Slept in, etcetera. But anyway, I go to buy coffee and there he is," she gestured widely with her arms, "this dude that clearly thought he owned the whole damn city serving me coffee."

"Wait, did you go to the place off fifth?" a girl she barely knew interjected, "because if you're talking about that blond man that looks like he stepped out of a goddamn fashion magazine I don't know what you're complaining about. He's lush."

"That's just my point. People like him think that because they're pretty they can glide by on life. I bet that's his first job, I bet he's never had to work in his life because he's so beautiful. It's unfair."

Michele curled her lip suspiciously, "you sure are referencing how stunning he is a lot."

"What? No he's- no." Mary Lynette sipped her long cold coffee, "He was awful. I hate him."

"This isn't like you, though," Michele said, "I think you have a crush."

"I think you need to leave." Mary Lynette joked, because she didn't get crushes on pretty boys. She had never gone out for the jock archetype. It just wasn't her style. She went out for the silent artsy type - for people who truly understood things. Not boys with enough hair spray to be a health and safety hazard.

So why had she enjoyed arguing with him so much?

Ash sunk his teeth into the dainty neck of a girl he'd picked up downtown. She was cute and willing enough, but with how short she was he had to be careful not to dangerously wound her. Not that he cared, but discretion was valued out in the human world and Ash didn't exactly want to leave a trail of bodies.

As he fed he found his thoughts drifting. He was sharply aware of the sweet coppery taste, of the feeling of damp brick behind him and the soft gasps and moans the girl was making but he could barely pay attention.

He found himself wondering what the girl he'd encountered earlier that day tasted like. What was her name, Mary Lynette? He chuckled mentally at the idea that he could forget her name when she'd been all he had thought about since that morning. It wasn't even that she was stunningly attractive or witty or anything, it was more that she had rolled her eyes at him. At him. So rare was it in the mundies for a human girl to roll her eyes at Ash's advances (in fact it was the first time) that he couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with her. Gay, maybe? He wondered as the girl beneath him went limp.

And then he found himself in an alleyway cradling an unconscious human and wondering where his life had all gone wrong.

AUTHORS NOTES:

HELLO! Thank you for reading this. I wrote it for fun as a video game patched and as you can tell I'm pretty damn rusty. Mary Lynette is wildly OOC and Ash is... well... Ash, I guess. I appreciate you taking time to read so please review or fave! or whatever. I'll probably write more if I get any form of response from anyone I'm pretty bored.

Also seriously wtf is this fandom?! I've missed you guys! Strange Fate when?

Have a nice day!