The calm came back as we got further from the office and closer to our destination. A relaxed grin settled on my cheeks, and beside me, Helena presented even more of an enigma. Her heart rate increased just enough to be noticeable, but her pose didn't speak of fear. "Tell me your story Helena, how did you enter the warehouse program?"

Helena looked over at me and ignored the question. "You relax a lot once work is behind you. Why work at all if it's such a burden?"

She thinks I'm just another leech. I smirked, "I couldn't just sit around like a goddess waiting for the food to come to me Helena. That's more my sister's style. The luxury, having heads turn in the street when you pass by, that's all Tracy's thing. I work for a living because if I didn't I would be just another waste of space. I'm no weight on society." Not in the original sense anyway. Besides, it's boring.

She raised her eyebrows curiously, "And what's your sister like?"

"Dead." It didn't hurt this time, but I stopped smiling. Only a heartless bitch smiles while talking about her sister's death. I mean, I am heartless, and a bitch, but the little insect wouldn't let me live peacefully if I acted like that. The tick's probably the only reason I ever joined the warehouse.

Helena colored, "I'm so sor-"

"Don't." I began smiling again, "Everyone dies when it's their time. Mine simply comes a lot later. Or now. The sun comes out every day, I shut my door on death each morning Helena, and it greets me every night. I am past the point of denial or fear on the subject."

Her mouth shut and she watched me carefully for a period long enough to bring me a degree of discomfort. "But no acceptance?"

"What?" That's a weird thing to say.

"You haven't accepted it though. You aren't at peace with death, you just fight against it, is that it?"

"We're here." I replied, putting the car into park and getting out. I didn't wait for Helena to follow me, but like a good dog she did.

Helena wrinkled her nose, "And where is here? It smells like a glorified brothel."

I paused just long enough for her to come up beside me and wrapped my arm around her waist. I leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Maybe it is darling, either way you should stick by my side for a little bit, let them know you have my protection." I felt the shiver go down her spine this time. I have to admit I enjoyed teasing the wolf just a little bit. The crowd parted around us. I swear this place is always packed like those nightclubs that humans are so gaga over. I can't stand it.

The bouncer was a Nephilim, a brute of the best kind. Close cousin to Peter's kind and just a tad stronger. "Alexandre." I nodded to him with a smile and breezed past with a stunned Helena at my hip.

"Hey wait." He grabbed my arm and I turned incredulous. "You can't take that in there." He gestured to Helena who started bristling.

I sneered, holding Helena back with an arm. "Alexandre I hold you in very high regard but I won't stop from destroying you if you do not back off. This woman is not a that, and her species doesn't matter. She is with me. That is all you should care about." My teeth gleamed and I knew that my canines were showing.

The Nephilim paled, "I uh, yes ma'am. I am so sorry. Go right on in."

Helena and I began walking again, I murmured in her ear, "Don't take jack shit from anyone here. They all owe me one thing or another, and if you find the one that doesn't, I'll rip them a new one. Vampires don't build respect the way your wolves do. We're less civilized like that." I chuckled, reluctantly removing my hand from her waist.

Helena laughed in a short bark, "I knew it. You vampires are too invested in appearances. It's all knives and biting with you isn't it?"

I grinned, "Once you get to know us you realize that a vampire's whole life is chaos. Outside is all gorgeous lies. Inside things become a lot… More interesting."

Helena shivered. It suited me well, having her here. This madhouse of hunger and anger was every inch the chaotic mess that defined vampirism. We represent every possible one of the seven deadly sins. We are greedy, slothful, angry beasts falling to every trick of hubris. Helena provided an anchor to keep me sane. Normally the little beastie that kept room in my mind would do it for me, but since her little vacation, there's little hope that I could control myself here.

Helena cleared her throat, drawing my attention away from the mass of dancing bodies down the hall. This nightclub was built to lure the minds of the vampiric community into a stupor, distract us from the boring day-to-day of eternity. "So you mentioned diversions darling. So far I only see cheap entertainment quickly dispatched. Where's the real fun?"

I grinned from ear to ear and licked my lips, "This way." I led her through the crowded hall, ignoring the muted hisses and rumbling chests that indicated the general distaste for my guest. We passed through the crowd like a knife through butter. No one wanted to get mongrel on them. It made navigating that much easier. Gilded elevators stood in the back far from the sight of wandering humans. Filigree and marble spewed forth from them like a baroque nightmare.

No one entered the elevator with us, so Helena and I were alone for the descent. "Where are we going darling? I'm starting to think you've lured me here to have me killed."

I turned and shoved Helena back against the wall of the elevator, my hand on her throat, and her right hand trapped against the wall with my left. "Do you really think I need seclusion to kill you if I wanted? I fight my very nature to leave you alive. You would have to shift to gain the advantage here. The party above is still the calm mask of my kind. This is where the real fun happens."

The door behind us slid open and I drew away. It wouldn't do to have anyone see me acting aggressively towards her, not here. This is one place where our control goes to the dogs. Helena followed me out of the elevator, nostrils flaring. The sounds of the fight originated a hundred feet back and to my left, down thirty feet in the pit. Multiple levels of people screaming encouragements and insults mixed into a crowded morass of confusion. It was the snarls that caught Helena's attention.

She followed them all the way to the edge of the pit, peering down with a concentration that I had yet to see on her face. She took in everything going on in moments. "The wolf is going to win." She murmured.

"Of course he is. The whelp in the ring is a parasite, not a true vampire." I laughed, "No one cares who wins, we just want to see the ending. Watch the crowds." I tilted her head. to the raging flow of energy from the vampires and even werewolves in the crowd. The difference was that these wolves are all leashed. The whole mob radiated anger and excitement.

The wolf in the ring knocked the parasite back against the edge of the pit walls and snarled loudly, drawing a collective hiss from the crowd. The dog howled and his skin began to ripple. Helena's attention was drawn from the crowd for but a moment as an enormous hound burst forth from the skinny man's chest, leaving small tatters of his clothing behind. Everyone burst out into growls and snarls and shouts to finish the creature. Chills traveled down my spine and even I felt the need to join into the throng. The unnatural creatures needed to be destroyed. My very nature screamed to jump in there and destroy it. More than one young whelp was being held back as the wolf finished off his opponent and changed back, arms raised high, urging on the vicious mob.

I tore my eyes from the now human shaped wolf to see Helena staring, not at the crowd, but at me. "Did you know darling, this is the most controlled I've seen you all night." She commented softly, for my ears only.

A part of me wanted to scoff, call bullshit and stalk off, even hit her for such a rude comment but how can I fight the truth. In all honesty I have been a terror all night. "Perhaps this isn't just for you Helena. I may not enjoy the life that my people live, but I am still a vampire." And the human still isn't back. She's never let me alone this long. Never. Little Myka always comes out to play when I'm here. She thinks it's barbaric to shout and bet and thirst for the blood of another. Silly human picked the wrong species to get in bed with. "I enjoy a more vibrant lifestyle than even the Warehouse allows. Perhaps some day I'll show you how I spend my free time." And with that offer I realized the truth, there was a chance, just a chance that we could be happy, together. I could be at peace with this aberration against nature, and that thought frightened me almost as much as it thrilled me.