Liseli paced back and forth in her apartment. She had been seen a flyer for a club party floating around at school that day and she had seen Taylor speaking to some girls about going to it.
Taylor. His days were numbered. And that number was very very small.
She would go, if only to deal with that witch. Liseli walked over to the antique mahogany wardrobe. It dominated one of the walls in the small room she would call home until it was decided that she could go back to her normal solitary predatory existence.
She picked out some relatively somber clothing for the evening, nothing that would constrict her movement too much in a fight. Liseli donned a strappy purple tanktop and a pair of tight black shorts. She pinned up her hair in a messy bun so that the tattoo she had on her back would be easily visible. During the school day she had kept the knife in a holster on her leg, but for the party, and intended fight, it would have to be more accessible. She decided to wear it on her waist so that she could easily grab it.
Looking in the mirror, Liseli tried to apply some makeup so that she would blend into the crowd at the club, which would undoubtedly be decked out in glitter and sequins. She gave up quickly, however; her reflection in the mirror was too pale and misty to apply makeup. Before she stepped outside and went to the club, Liseli grew out her teeth and run her tongue over them before she bit down and tasted the blood flowing into her mouth, exciting her senses and heightening her desire to deal with that witch, Taylor.
Liseli liked getting ready for fights.
~*~
The club was like all other human clubs were; loud, flashy, and hot. Liseli much preferred vampire clubs, which tended to be darker, if lit at all, and less crowded, at least around the more powerful vampires such as Liseli; no one wanted to be too close to them if they got angry, which happened quite frequently.
"Liseli, hi!" Mary said, running up to Liseli as she entered the room. "I wasn't sure if you were coming. You never told me if you would be."
"Oh, well, I'm here," Liseli said, frowning. She didn't want the fight with Taylor to attract too much attention; she had been hoping to just pull him away in a corner and kill him quietly, but with Mary tagging along that would be nearly impossible.
"Cool, do you like to dance?" Mary said, dragging Liseli onto the floor.
"Not really, Mary. How about we get something to drink?" Liseli said, dragging Mary off of the floor. Liseli actually liked dancing, but the music she preferred usually was heavy metal, none of the happy pop music that was blaring out in the club.
"Drink?" Mary said. "I dunno; I might get drunk."
"So?" Liseli responded, pulling Mary to the bar.
"What can I get you two ladies?" the bartender asked, pulling out two clean glasses.
"I'll just have a cola, please," Mary said timidly.
"Everclear," Liseli said, pointing to the bottle that was labeled 200 proof.
The bartender raised his eyebrows. "You sure can handle that, lady? It's mighty strong."
"So?" Liseli said impatiently. "I think I'll be fine."
The bartender poured her a shot of the Everclear, which Liseli downed in one gulp. The bartender shrugged his shoulders and walked off, muttering something about crazy teens.
"Wow," Mary said, "Do you drink a lot?"
"Not really, I just have a naturally high tolerance level," Liseli said, absentmindedly fingering the knife she wore on her waist. She could feel the magic present in its blade; it nearly felt alive.
Liseli and Mary stood by the bar, trying to talk over the blaring music. Liseli was keeping an eye on the door, waiting for Taylor to arrive. Finally he did, and he made his way straight over to Liseli and Mary.
"Liseli," Taylor said, staring at her face but avoiding looking directly into her eyes.
"Taylor," Liseli said, putting her hand very obviously onto the knife at her waist.
"Mary, maybe you ought to go away for a bit, Liseli and I need to talk privately about something," Taylor said, looking pleadingly at Mary, who rolled her eyes and went to chat with some of her other friends.
"So, Taylor, are you going to tell me what the fuck you are up to in Rowenoak?" Liseli said, "or am I going to have to hurt you."
"I should be saying the same thing, Liseli," Taylor said, taking a step forward so that they were nearly nose to nose.
Liseli stuck out her hand, grabbing Taylor's throat and shoving him against the wall loud enough for an *thunck* to be heard.
"You first," Liseli said, pulling out the knife and putting the flat of the blade against Taylor's elbow.
Taylor struggled to remain calm while being held at knifepoint by a powerful vampire. He failed.
"Initiates," Taylor said quietly, "I'm here to bring people we've identified as good candidates back to Dominique."
"Dominique?" Liseli said, "but she's a Vida; you're a Smoke."
"I can't tell…" Taylor was cut off as Liseli pressed the knife against his skin, raising a thin line of blood on his pale arm. "Fine, fine, the Smoke and the Vida line are combining. Both the healers and the killers; more powerful that way."
"But no sign of that has showed up in the auras of new witches," Liseli said, not letting up on the pressure she had against the knife.
"No one," Taylor gasped for air and Liseli loosened her grip to let him breathe, "no one knows why, but the new witches can hunt vampires almost as well as the original Vida's can."
"I think you're lying to me, Taylor," Liseli said. "Why have only the Smoke witches appeared to be involved with this, this conversion."
"It is. Almost any Smoke can do it, but of the Vida line, only Dominique can do it."
"Do what?"
"I don't know," Taylor said, a hint of pleading sneaking into his voice, "I'm a mixed line; no one told me what they did to me."
Liseli let go of Taylor's neck and grabbed his face, forcing him to look into her eyes. He shuddered, but Liseli didn't let go. After a moment, Liseli began to speak very softly.
"Taylor, if you value your pathetic life you will listen to me. Okay?" Liseli said. "I am not going to kill you, as long as you keep giving me information, anything you know. If I find that you've told anyone about the arraignment, you will be killed. If I find that you are keeping something from me, you will be killed. Got it?"
Taylor nodded.
Liseli put her knife back into its holder. She held up Taylor's arm where he had been cut by the knife. The blood was flowing out of the cut and running down his arm, dripping on the floor. Liseli licked the blood off of his arm before blinking out and disappearing into the dark night.
~*~
A/N: I know that this chapter was very short, but I wanted it to highlight the "fight" scene between Taylor and Liseli. The next chapter will be delayed for a fair bit; I have tests in school as well as other stories going (note to authors: never try working on more than one series at once).
Thank you to all my reviewers: LittleGreenBear, Qaera (there were be at least one more scene in the high school, if you like her 'shadowing' you ought to like that scene), Kit, Julie, Izzy, Fenris (you're right; I might give you a cameo as a reward), AniBlaire (you don't sound condescending at all, and you didn't misspell it), ShadowPika, Melee (you want a cameo, let's see, I won't punch you, but I might kill your character), and Damien (good idea; I love it when my reviewers have better ideas than I do and see the comment I wrote to Fenris)
Don't you wish your name was on that list? Please review…I love comments…flames…suggestions (I got a few from my last chapter that were incorporated into this chapter)