A/N - A little bit later than I had expected it to be, but I still managed to get this out by Friday! I barely was able to eek out the ending, however, and you'll probably be able to tell. Though it isn't that important of a plot point, I think I will like to go back and add more to it at a later date. However, for now, it will be fine as it is. :)

StarGazers - Thanks! Don't worry - Dean is even goofier. Haha!And yeah, I'm not a believer in the vampire drunkenness either. But I suspect they can still drink it, and I figured some of them might still just like the taste, as is the case with Dean. Just something to do, I suppose.

aberdeenkev - Thank you! And yes, this takes place somewhat - just - before, and during, as you will see in this chapter, to far after. (no spoiling though!)

2. Of Boats and Pretty Women

A couple days after his birthday, Dean still hadn't seen Knox. It was starting to worry him, honestly, but he kept trying to tell himself that he was merely busy with the tons of shit Tung would always give him. It didn't help much. That nagging feeling of… wrong still stood over him. Though, to be honest, it wasn't really in his nature to worry that much, and the fact that he was worrying was what was worrying him most. If that made sense. ...Probably not. Whatever. Point is, he still hadn't had any of the fun that he had originally wanted.

Though that's kind of how it works in unlife. You live so long as a carefree kind of guy, you start to get bored real fast. Which could be especially deadly, since vampires, well… kind of live forever and stuff. And so ever since he'd moved to LA, he kind of took to walking around every night. Hitting bars, chatting with buds, or basically just sleeping away weeks at a time was really all that fitted into his schedule anymore. It was absolutely boring.

He had thought about getting a job, working his way up a corporate ladder, or maybe even simply getting a hobby, but really nothing ever seemed to interest him anymore. Everything that had originally been interesting to him died in the 60s, along with everything else that he had known and loved. Really, the past few years had been hitting him the hardest with the nostalgia. If only he had studied in his science class, he might be able to create a time machine. Though, honestly, he wasn't sure how realistic that thought was. Oh well.

Dean realized that he had walked all the way back to the Last Round again, strangely enough, and he wondered briefly if he had subconsciously wanted to come back here. But then, he wasn't really much of a deep thinker, and that wondering didn't last long. He didn't really want to go in, either, as his last trip hadn't been one of the most fun he had ever had.

As he started on by, however, something caught his eye. He turned to get a better view, and was instantly intrigued. A beautiful woman, with short black hair and pale skin, was walking gracefully from the Last Round. She seemed a bit miffed, and he took that as an invitation to try and make her smile, make her feel better. Grinning, he practically skipped across the street to meet her.

As he approached, she noticed him and scowled. Oh, such a lovely sight she was. If his heart was still beating, it would have beat out of his chest. He stepped right in front of her, getting as close as he could. He was sure that she needed a bit of company to wipe that frown off her face.

Unfortunately, she didn't seem at all better off from his presence. Typically, this wouldn't have surprised him, as he seemed to be a sort of pretty woman repellant. But she hardly seemed like a typical woman to Dean. So he leaned in, not letting her scowl bother him.

"Get out of my face."

Well, that wasn't a very nice thing for her to say to a perfect stranger, let alone one that simply wanted to make her feel better. He lowered his smile slightly, to try and subtly show his hurt feelings. "Ma'am, I simply came to comfort - " he had reached out to try and grasp her hand to do the gentlemanly thing and give it a slight peck, but she had yanked it back, cutting his speech off.

"Shut the fuck up, imbecile. I don't have time for this." She scowled once again, shoving past him and picking up the pace of her walking.

Dean jogged a bit to try and catch up, then matched her pace. "Oh, c'mon, I was only joking. I just wanted to say hi, how's it going?"

She scoffed then, not responding. Damn, she was a tough one to crack the shell of.

"At least tell me your name," he said slowly, trying to sound less like a lecher on the street and more like an actually nice guy. Surprisingly, she slowed down then, coming to a full stop. He had to stop and backtrack a bit to level with her again. She held a high suspicion in her eyes, and she seemed to almost distrust him. As if she had any reason to distrust Dean, a random man on the streets of downtown LA, at night. Oh, wait…

"And why should I do that?" she asked, apprehension still high in her voice, along with exasperation.

Dean smirked. "Because I wanna know. And because you just walked out of the Last Round, a place that I know very well. You wanna tell me what you were doing there?" Not the most friendly way of starting small talk, but at least it was something.

She laughed, though it was a bit high-and-mighty sounding. Was this chick a moneybags or what? 'Cause she sure acted like she was queen of the world. Already he didn't like her much. However, when she let out a particularly loud laugh, he saw the tiny tips of her canines. She was kin. Oops. "I'll give you that. Though I'm quite a regular myself, and I haven't seen you around much either…" she trailed off, but her tone made it sound like she didn't expect a retort. "Ariane Noel," she breathed out finally, her smile fading ever so slightly.

Dean grinned. She must have realized his being kin at the same time he'd noticed hers. "Dean McMaron."

She smiled wider. "Ah, so you're the one mucking up their little headquarters, then? Heard you were a bit of a brawler a couple days ago. Giving the boys a hard time?" She said slowly, as if testing for something. He had no idea what.

"Um, I guess you could say that, yeah. 'Cept I wasn't brawling. Just wanted to let the Anarchs know where I stand with them. I don't want any part of their stupid vampire politics, you know?"

She rolled her eyes, though still grinning. She started walking down the street, then, but slow enough for Dean to match her pace. "Tell me about it. They seem like they could be a fun bunch, but get to know them, and all they do is nag, nag, nag all the time. It's ridiculous."

They rounded a corner, passing another block. "What's their beef with LaCroix, anyway? I know they've got it out for all the Camarilla, but it's like the head honcho really gets to them."

She sighed. "Yeah, they've got a thing for little guy, y'know? And LaCroix, well… he isn't little. In fact, he's a bit of a bigwig, and I suppose it's really just they way he rubs them wrong. Just the kind of… person he is, really, that they don't like. They don't even know the half of it." She paused, looking down the street a ways before turning back to he with a cool gaze. "Sorry for the way I acted earlier, by the way. I'm not very popular around here, given who I work for. Everyone likes to pick on the pawn, I suppose."

Huh? "What do you mean? Who do you work for?"

She looked at Dean as if she didn't believe that he didn't know. As if she expected him to know everything happening in the world. Why didn't people actually believe that Dean was new here? "LaCroix. I thought you knew."

Dean was a bit shocked, but honestly, he didn't know the guy and he didn't know her, so he had no room to judge. "Um… no, I didn't. Though I don't care much, really. I don't know much about LA yet - I don't really think it's any of my business, either."

She looked at Dean as if amazed. "Huh," she said simply, rounding another corner and coming up to a taxi car. She paused outside the door, clutching the handle but looking at him as if expecting some sort of answer to an unspoken question. Finally, she sighed and said, "Well, goodnight."

He wasn't expecting that. Though, he should have been, given that she was just getting ready to get into a taxi and apparently leave. But he stood there a moment, staring at her, trying to think of something to say. Finally it clicked, and he took a step closer. "Where are you going, anyway? Maybe I could come along?"

She seemed a little caught off guard. "Um…"

Dean started speaking quickly. "I'm bored as ass out here anyway, and to be honest, I've got nothing else better to do. You're obviously going on a bit of an adventure… am I right?" he winked, grinning crookedly, like he knew all the ladies loved.

She seemed skeptical at first, but then sighed and scooted into the car. "Get in."

It was a boat. A fucking huge boat, too. Well… not huge, really, but still… big. Called the Dane or something. Apparently she was running an errand for LaCroix, something he hadn't expected. Though, to be fair, she did say that she was his number one pawn, and really… what else do pawns to but run errands? But still. A boat?

"Jacobson never told me there'd be two of you! How am I supposed to let two reporters in without anyone realizing who let them in?" So apparently this wasn't part of the plan, but Ariane seemed to know what she was doing.

"My partner and I were very specific. We both need to get in, as we are a team and cannot do any shooting without the other," she said pristinely, putting on an air of superiority. Or maybe that was just her, he didn't know.

The cop looked her over, then Dean. He squinted his eyes. "Where's your equipment?"

Dean started panicking, but Ariane had it all under control. "Concealed, of course. How else do you think we'd make it to the security room without anyone noticing? We must be light on our feet if we expect to slip by silently." She paused, mostly for dramatic effect. "We've done this many times before; don't worry. You're job's safe with us. You have my word."

He seemed still reluctant, but finally sighed and looked her in the eye. "Fine. The password to the security computers is 'lighthouse', all one word. I'll distract the one over there. After that, you're gonna' have to make yourself real scarce. If you get caught, I don't know you. Got it?"

Ariane simply nodded, and walked back towards the side of the ship they came up on, and hid to let the cop do his job. "Get down," she whispered to Dean, pushing on his back to force him down as she dropped as well. He fell in beside her.

The cop saw that they were down and ready, and hollered out to the other cop blocking the way into a hall. "Yo, come check this out! I just saw a baleen whale!" Ariane kept rapt eyes on the other cop, and as he leisurely strode toward their 'inside man', she grabbed Dean's hand and tugged as she started her way across the boat again.

When they got to the other side of the room, Ariane took one last glance back at the two cops and ducked into the hallway. Dean was desperately trying to get a grasp on where exactly Ariane was going, but he was being dragged about this way and that, and had barely enough time to notice the large stains of blood along the walls, and doors that just wouldn't close. At first it seemed as if Ariane knew exactly where she was going, as confident as she was, but as Dean started to pay attention more, he realized they were actually backtracking more than they were moving forward.

Finally, after wandering through the small hall and the rooms connected to it, they reached a staircase. Having already tried the other doors in the lower level, she sighed and pulled Dean up the steps. At the top of the stairs where only two doors, and Dean thanked whatever higher being there was just for that. She chose the one closest to the top of the stairs first. Easing it open slowly, she peaked inside. Instead of heading on in like the previous rooms they had looked in, she quickly backed away and shut the door quietly. At his questioning look, Ariane whispered to Dean, "Guards."

Padding quietly over to the other door, she opened this one with more caution. Luckily, no one was inside this time, and she stepped inside. After a moment, she looked back outside the door and gave Dean a look. "Well, come on," she whispered. "This is it. One look at the cameras and we're out of here."

After Dean followed her in, she motioned toward a computer and a couple of monitors. They both huddled around the screens, and after a moment, Dean looked at her. "Well?"

She scowled at him for at least the tenth time that night, and turned back to the computer. "Hold your goddamn horses." She paused once again for good measure, probably just to piss Dean off, then, finally, typed the password into the computer.

The display on the other monitor clicked on, and on it was a distorted picture of an area on the boat. Dean figured it was a camera view, and sure enough, it flickered again to show another awkwardly placed angle. Dean looked over at Ariane, wondering what exactly they should be looking for. He was about to ask just that when another view popped up. Eyeing it closely, she gasped. "It's been opened."

"What? What's been opened?"

She motioned toward the monitor, pointing to the focus of the camera. It was some sort of fancy coffin, and had caution tape all around it. It looked like it could have been a piece of art in some fancy gallery, or something in a museum of Egyptian history or some shit. Like it came out of those old history books Teach' used to make him read. It looked as if it was sealed tight, but there was blood on the side, dripping down and puddling.

Dean was brought out of his observings by Ariane sinking from her crouch onto the floor, her hands splayed across her lap in defeat. "God, LaCroix's going to kill me."

"What? Why, all you did was do what he asked."

She shook her head. "Yeah, but he kind of has a thing for shooting the messenger." She sighed, letting her head droop for a moment before turning to the side and getting back up. "But it'll be fine, he'll just shout and pout, then send me on his next errand." She scoffed then, sitting back on her haunches and turning around. "Well, let's head out. We're done here."

Getting back was easier than it had been to get there, as they knew their way around now. Heading back out the door of the control room and down the stairs, the two kindred sneakily passed the guards from before. It seemed as if that baleen whale wasn't nearly as exciting as the one cop had made it out to be, unfortunately.

Luckily they passed everyone without much trouble, and climbed silently down the ladder on the side of the Dane. After plopping back down onto the boat, Ariane started up the engine and sped off into the night, a very relieved and tired Dean along with her.

Back in Santa Monica, they were about halfway through the parking garage when Dean finally spoke up. "So… Why exactly was Princess so interested in that coffin?"

It took a while before Ariane answered, as if she was thinking about an appropriate response. Finally, she sighed before speaking up. "I'm not really sure, honestly. I just got back from my job here in Santa Monica before he asked me to check out the Dane. Said something about an important relic that may hold a great power." She paused looking distant for a moment before turning back to Dean. "He tried to convince me and say that the reason he wanted it was because 'the power could fall into the wrong hands'. But I knew it was because he wanted it for himself. Whatever 'it' is…"

Dean thought a moment before they exited the garage. "Well, obviously it's a mummy or something. Maybe it's some old vampire guy."

Ariane laughed at that. "Well why the hell would LaCroix want it then? If there was some dead dude in there, undead or not, why would he work for LaCroix? Obviously if he's dead dead, then he isn't much use at all. If he's undead, he'd be a heck of a lot older than LaCroix. And the way I've seen it work so far, the older, the more powerful. If anything, LaCroix'd work for him."

Dean laughed at that, wrapping his right hand around the back of his neck to try and wring out the stress of the night. It had been a hell of a lot more busy night than most these days, and Dean was starting to wear a bit. Yawning after a pause, he turned the corner with Ariane in tow.

They walked past a few more buildings and came to an alleyway next to Trip's Pawn Shop. Smirking, Dean turned around to look Ariane in the eyes. "This is my stop. It's not pretty, I know, but it's mine - for now."

Ariane looked up at him, a bit surprised. "Actually, this is my stop as well."

Of course she would be living in the same building as him. That was the cliche, right? "Oh," he mumbled, before reaching for the door and opening it for her. "In that case, come on in."

Ariane still looked a little shocked, but she shuffled in anyways. Heading up the stairs, she looked back to make sure Dean was following her. Right in tow, as she had suspected. And grinning like an idiot. "I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to invite you in," she smirked, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

He laughed at that, giving her an alluring gaze. "Not if you don't want to, sweetie." He paused, noting her expression. She seemed even more interested than before. Smirking, he nodded to the side, indicating his apartment that was only just down the stairs from her. "Or, if you want… we could head on into my place."

"Yeah, because going into the apartment of a man I just met on the street is a really smart thing to do," she said, though still smirking.

Dean put on a face. "Oh, darling, you wound me," he drawled out, mimicking a posh English accent. "I did so think we had grown closer than that."

She laughed out loud at that, rolling her eyes. "I don't actually think that's a saying. But..." she paused, looking toward his door, then back to him. "That sounded strangely like LaCroix, I gotta say it."

He scoffed. "I hardly think I'm much like your bossy-boss. In fact, I'll bet you we wouldn't get along well at all."

A loud laugh and a shove got him through the door and into his apartment. It took him by surprise, to say the least, but he wasn't complaining... much. The fact that she had started to attack his face, however, was another matter.

Her lips crashing into his repeatedly was a shock, but he didn't fight back. The searing kisses were pressed all over his mouth, and grazed his stubbled jaw and neck as they deviously trailed downwards. He was being pushed about the room, but he hardly noticed. Something was bumped and fell, crashing against the dirty rug. They didn't notice, or if they did, they didn't care.

A few more moments of awkwardly trying to steer Dean around, Ariane shoved him fiercely in the opposite direction. Suddenly, he slammed against a wall with a hard, painful thud. Ariane was back on him in an instant.

After the initial shock of the wall to his head, Dean started eagerly peeling off the clothing of his soon-to-be friend with benefits. He tried desperately to pull up her tight-fitted tanktop, but it didn't want to seem to budge, what with her wrapped tightly around his waist. After a struggle, Dean managed to pull away from Ariane long enough to pull it off her and over her head. She immediately latched back onto his lips.

After a long struggle, eventually - somehow, they both were able to get undressed and onto the bed. Throughout the rest of the night and through to dawn, Ariane dominated over Dean. He didn't seem to care though, as it had been quite a while since he had gotten any action. In fact, he quite enjoyed it.

A/N #2 - As I said before, I will probably come back and change that ending... Maybe make it more juicier, or longer, or whatnot. The internet went down at my house and I wasn't able to put this up until midnight, so it's a bit rushed. My apologies. As for the next chapter, it will be... *consults calender*... February 7th!

EDIT - Unfortunately had a bit of a busy couple of weeks. There will be an update on next Friday - February 14. Just for the wait, I'll be posting two chapters.