The air was thick with smoke. Angel glanced around, getting an unwelcome whiff of the atmosphere. Pasty flesh. Sick, desperate humans threw themselves in the hands of some begrudging vampire. Sometimes they were rejected, Angel noticed. Some had broken teeth, bashed in by the vampire who had had just too much begging. On their arms were bruises - the imprints of hands worn as rings on some unlucky arm. The people never cared. They wanted it.
Angel took off his coat and lingered back in the cloud of cigarette smoke. Fang bangers. The word was thrown around with suggestive grins. In reality, the whole thing was depressing. Everything had changed since vampires came out of the coffin two years ago. Riley had never been a "fang banger." He had serious problems - a loss of strength, the insane want to be needed - and the vampires were thankful.
Angel absorbed the image before him. It was always a hard job to help people who did not want his help. His job had just multiplied exponentially.
Safe, back at the hotel, Cordelia and Wesley were making calls. They were trying to find a temporary residence in Louisiana, close to the frenzy of the Bon Temps murders. The only thing that Cordelia could remember from her vision were flashes of the womens' dead bodies. Flashes of vampire hatred ran through her mind as well. "We can't have that happen, Angel." she had said. "We just can't."
"People tend to forget very easily the good deeds of the individual in favor of hating the group," Wesley added. He had a genuine look of concern in his blue, grey eyes. Mouth drawn down in a serious frown, Wesley's five o' clock shadow was ever present. It added shadow and seriousness to his lanky physique.
They had agreed to make a special trip to Louisiana. Cordelia had a feeling that the murders would only get worse and the blame more permanent.
Angel entered the bar to do some regal detective work. With his jacket off, Angel slung the bulky black coat over his shoulder, meandering with a mysterious air determinedly up to the bar. "Pigs blood," he nodded to the bar tender.
"Pigs blood?" The bartender paused, his hand polishing a wine glass. "Did you say pigs blood?" His eyes were incredulous and the corners of his mouth began to turn upwards in a mocking chuckle. The bar tender turned around and flicked his hair. "Okay, my friend," he said between laughs, "what do you want? Diet or regular? We have that new vitamin enriched version. It goes down thick and will make you a little dizzy, but the Japanese say the benefits outweigh the cons. Any preference?" Angel had no idea what the bartender was talking about.
A lot of the time, Angel was disconnected from the world. He remembered that Harmony used to rave about her twitter account. Angel never wanted to be that connected. It was almost comforting.
These situations were a little embarrassing, though. Angel looked around the bar and saw the vampires wrapping their lips around something that looked to be thick strawberry juice in old glass coca-cola bottles.
"Pigs blood," Angel said a third time. The bartender turned around. He had stopped laughing. Placing his hands on the bar, shoulders hunched, the bartender addressed Angel.
"I don't take insults in my bar."
"Insults?"
"Yes. Animal blood is an insult. When vampires can choose from synthetic blood and willing humans why would you disgrace yourself? We're moving up in this world. We don't need people like you dragging us behind. Now, what will it be? Diet or regular?" The bartender stood staring Angel down.
"Regular," he said through gritted teeth. The bartender pivoted sharply around and almost threw the tru blood at him in disgust.
Seeing another patron raise her finger, the bartender started walking away. "You know," Angel yelled, "I didn't even know. I didn't even know there was such a thing as synthetic blood." The bartender stopped and turned around.
"You've got a lot of stuff to learn," he said, "Drink up." Almost as if it didn't happen, the bartender was at the other end, showing off his vampire abilities to doge the cocktail waitresses.
Angel looked into his glass. "A lot of stuff to learn," Angel echoed into his drink. After sipping he smiled then took a large gulp. "Nice."