BALTIMORE, JAN. 4th 1:15 P.M
Felicia finally arrived at her next gig, Raptor not too far behind. "Club Nachtherfst…that's an odd name to give to a place?" She thought to herself, Raptor looked at the sign and gave a sharp laugh, "Who's the bloody nut-job who'd name a place that!"
As soon as they entered the place, they were awe-struck…it looked like a miniature opera house, even had a chandelier hanging above the stage. Raptor took a look at the whole place and said, "What kind of guy renovates a place out like this…this isn't like any nightclub I've ever seen."
"Nor doubt you would, the owner of this place pulled out quite a few stops when it came to giving this place its décor, not that it bothered him…you could say that out of almost all his nightclubs this one's his pride and joy." The bartender told them both.
"And who's the owner of this place?" Felicia asked.
"Well the other workers have known not to call him by his name, just 'boss' or 'sir'…but if you must know, his name is—." He started to tell them.
"You don't have to tell them, he's already here." Said a voice behind them they both recognized. They turned around to see Dominic Nightshade standing behind them.
"Oh boss…you're here." The bartender said, rather surprised.
"You…you own this place!" Felicia said both in anger and disbelief.
"Hey Dominic, nice place you got here…and a good name to go with it." Raptor said in a friendly tone to Dominic.
"I remember someone asking what kind of nut-job would give this place that kind of name." Felicia asked coyly.
"x-aay on the ut-job nay Felicia!" Raptor grumbled to her.
Dominic shook his head, "I understand…but you must understand that every one of my nightclubs have a bit of a history for me, this one more than others." He said as he looked at the stage with a dreamy sort of look in his eyes, "You may not know this but I was born in America, but when I was 4 months old my family moved to Warsaw. My father was an accountant, most of my fathers' business partners were from The Netherlands so I learned Dutch from them. I have a very good memory, when I was seven though we left Warsaw behind for the U.S. again. But I'll never forget my experience there."
"Whoa…" Felicia said rather surprised.
"That's powerful…" Raptor added.
"Quite, I also decorated this place like I did because I used to go to the theatre a lot in my middle-school to early high-school years…and I don't mean the movie theatre, which got me labeled as a bit of an outsider by other guys unless they wanted to know what shows they should take their dates to see."
"When I looked upon this place and it's rather high ceiling I thought about one theatre performance in particular…and by far, still my favorite…'The Phantom of the Opera'."
"Incredible…I didn't know you had such an extensive history with this place." Felicia said rather apologetically.
"Nor would I blame you for not knowing…this place you should know is the first nightclub I ever truly opened, my crown jewel, it rakes in about $117,000 per year…and I don't plan on selling it any time soon." Dominic told them.
Raptor and Felicia both looked at Dominic, they both hadn't realized he had such a deep rooted sense, if not passion for history. "Well, we've got to get set up for tonight's gig. See you tonight I'm supposing." Raptor said as he left, Felicia was about to leave as well when Dominic said, "Felicia wait, I want to talk to you."
"Look, if you think you can force that contract deal down my throat like this…you can keep trying." She told him.
"No, it's not about that…I've given up on that because I realized your choices are your own, and I can't change that." Dominic told her.
"Then what?" Felicia asked.
Dominic then took a piece of paper out of his coat pocket and handed it to her, on it were the lyrics for 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'.
"Could you do that as a requested dedication for me?" Dominic asked.
"I don't know." Felicia said, sounding rather unsure.
"I understand entirely if you'd rather not, but you see…having an empire as great as I do, it's come with its prices." He told her. "And a singer with a voice like yours, I feel you could pull this off…if not for me then for the audience."
"I would be honored to sing this for you." Felicia told him.
LONDON AIRSTRIP JAN. 4th 6:15 P.M.
Donavan and Anita finally got off the zeppelin with Mulchany looking around and saying, "Well Herr Baine, I'd say this is where we go our separate ways…I only hope you'll be able to find a way onto that private jet without anyone seeing you."
"I'd be careful where you go Mulchany, from what I see…your boss has many eyes, and they'll be focused on the ones who refused to join him." Anita told him.
"Why thank you little girl, I'll keep that in mind." Mulchany said to her with a smile.
Suddenly Mulchany saw a craft landing and said, "There it is, you should find a way on quickly…as soon as everyone is aboard it and it's refueled it'll leave again." He told them as he started walking away.
Meanwhile Jon was watching the airstrip from afar, he saw the jet land and come to a full stop, "I know he's here somewhere…I can smell him even if he was a mile away and he was in an oil field." He thought to himself, as soon as he was up to the fence he saw two dark figures running towards the jet and get in the luggage compartment underneath. "Well while I'm here I might as well stop a few stole ways from bumming a free ride." He thought as he jumped the fence.
As soon as he was up to the jet he peeked inside and said, "Okay whoever you two are…unless you have pass—."
Donavan and Anita looked at him, "Donavan? What are you doing—?" he started to ask, but before he could finish Donavan pulled him inside. "Listen…you may not like me, and I could say just about the same for you. But I have a feeling we may need your help in this." Donavan told Jon sternly.
"So where's this thing off to?" Jon asked.
"The U.S. as far as we know." Donavan told him.
"Does this have anything to do wit—?" He started to ask, but before he finished he peeked back at the luggage compartment opening and let out a low growl. He saw Michael boarding the plane, he was talking with some lady he thought he should recognize.
"Friend of yours?" Donavan asked.
"He wishes." Jon answered with a snort, then Jon figured it out, "This has something to do with that signal in the sky doesn't it?"
Donavan nodded, Jon sat on the opposite side of the compartment, "So finally we may get to see the brains behind this whole operation." He thought to himself.
Meanwhile Michael and the Woman took seats facing each other, "So when will I get to meet this Mr. Nightshade…this 'Bringer of Peace' as you so put it?" She asked.
"When the plane lands in Kennedy Int. Airfield there will be a limo waiting to pick us up and take up to his mansion." Michael told her.
"A mansion, well apparently your boss is a man of great class…I'm sure he'll amuse me." She said with a bit of a giggle.
"I wouldn't think about fighting him if I were you Morrigan, Demitri didn't and it was a good thing he didn't…for I doubt he'd have lasted long against Dominic." Michael warned her.
"And how would you know, you're just one of his spokespeople…surely you've never seen him fight?" Morrigan asked him.
"Actually I have and let me tell you if Demitri had fought him, I'm pretty sure Dominic would have his head in a wine pitcher by now." Michael told her.
"But how do you know?" Morrigan asked.
Michael then rolled up the back of his shirt, revealing several slashes upon his back that looked like they'd been made with a knife, "Before I was his spokesperson, I opposed Dominic Nightshade once, it's the only mistake I ever made…his ability, his power is what did this to me. The entire fight lasted about 17 minutes, I was at my wits end, my strength waning, my energy…near its threshold, as well as my tolerance to pain…now I have a high pain threshold, but Dominic's attacks knocked me past it. As he moved in for the finale…his Coupe de Gras, I begged for mercy. He almost ignored my plea, then I told him I'd do anything if he spared me…and well, here I am."
"Demitri…if he was in your position, would've chosen death over servitude." Morrigan told Michael as he pulled his shirt back down.
"Then Demitri must not be a good business man if he'd have chosen that." Michael said with a laugh.
Michael then saw the fueling was leaving, a sign that they'd be leaving soon. As they took off he decided to take a little nap, it'd be good for him to get some rest.
STREETS OF LONDON, 6:55 P.M.\
As Father Mulchany walked the streets of London he decided to try and find a place to stay for awhile until everything concerning Dominic's plan died down, it was in an alley way two men confronted him. "Fredrich Mulchany." One of them said.
"Yes." Mulchany said back.
Suddenly one of the men pulled out a gun and said, "We saw you help out Baine, and here's your reward."
Several shots rang out, but no one was around to hear them, they even looked around to make sure, "Pick up the body…best no one see it."
"Yeah, but where we going to dump it?"
"We'll leave it in my basement for awhile, then we'll find a peat bog or something and toss it in there."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
One of them put the body in a bag and carried it over his shoulder as they walked into the night, Big Ben tolled 7 at night.