"You should really update your phone." I ignored the blond male holding me captive in his lap. The pulsating rhythm of the music in the club was a blessing, if only because it drowned out the chatter of hopelessly desperate humans and horny, blood-thirsty vampires in the middle of a perverse form of flirting. My eyes were focused on the tiny screen of my flip phone as I continued to converse with a friend through text. "Who are you even talking to?"

"Dom." I muttered, completely forgetting that I had never spoken of my friend before.

"Who is this 'Dom'?" Godric frowned at me. I looked up quizzically as I felt Eric stiffen under me. The possessive aura that had been relaxed around me had flared dangerously.

"He's my hook up." I shrugged. "And he is trying to get me to go to a party in a few nights. Says I need to 'put myself out there'." I had my fingers form quotations.

"Hookup?" Eric growled lowly.

"Yeah. He usually brags to his art loving friends about my work. His boyfriend helps, too. He's the main reason any of my pieces get recognition." The aura relaxed around me and I blinked in confusion. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine. So that little frown is because?" Eric purred in my ear.

"Because that means I have to start working. If I go at all. He says it's a ritzy kind of event and I don't exactly own any kind of wardrobe for something like that. Nor do I want to fix that problem." I grumbled as I eyed the newest text. It had an attachment to it, so I clicked the necessary buttons to open it. "No... I hate him so much right now..." I groaned. Eric tugged the phone free from my hands before chuckling and passing it to Godric who smirked in amusement.

"Looks like that part has been fixed for you. Now the work?" Godric asked in interest.

"I need to go and start..." I rose from Eric's lap in defeat. Godric followed suit from his chair. "My bank account won't replenish itself."

"It would if you'd let me-"

"Nope. As much as people compare me to a cat, I am not a pet. I can and will fend for myself financially." I cut Eric off. He growled lowly at my stubbornness.

"What is it you do, exactly?" Godric questioned as we made our way out of the club.

"Depends on my mood, actually." I shrugged. "Sometimes, I paint. Sometimes I use pencil. Sometimes I sculpt. Sometimes I do photography. Some fashion designing isn't beneath me, either. I have to be flexible. The demand for different medians change around quite a bit."

"You've never written, though?" Godric chuckled.

"I've thought about it. But I'm not sure I can explain things with words as fluidly as I'd like to." We slid into Godric's car; Godric in the driver's seat, me in the passenger seat beside him.

"I'm sure you could do it if you put your mind to it." He argued lightly.

"Meh. I need to drop by the nearest arts supply store. And maybe somewhere that sells tarps." I mumbled after pulling out my sketch pad. I started to blindly sketch, in hopes that an idea would appear upon the paper. When we arrived, I looked down to see what I'd be transferring onto canvas. Two people dancing, only their outlines in the blank expanse of the page. I began detailing the nebula that was crystal clarity in the male's outline, while softening the further out, into the page it got, The woman, who had been sent out to twirl, had one bright star in her chest with a strange halo of colorful light. I became unnerved. It wasn't that the outline of the people in this sketch was familiar. The couple seemed fine. The male that seemed to be ready to step in on the dancing with the galaxy at the core of his being wasn't all that bothersome, either. What bothered me was on the floor of this room, the shadows depicted the female with wings. And there was a fourth shadow behind her with similar extra appendages. I could feel something pulling me to glance around myself with my odd second sight. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I brushed it off.


"Are you really going to paint the night away?" Eric huffed. It had been a few hours, and I had yet to step away from the canvas. Godric was seated comfortably in a chair, seemingly paying attention to something on the television, and Eric was sprawled across the couch, taking up a ridiculous amount of space and watching me smear paint across the lightly sketched up canvas.

"And the day. And possibly the next seventy two hours after that. I need things to sell. And I need them to be dry by the party."

"Why does the house smell like an arts and crafts room?" Pam called as she finally entered the house.

"If it isn't my favorite lesbian." I teased half-heartedly. Pam frowned at my corner of the room.

"Seriously? Why don't they just get a studio for you?" She complained as she squeezed into the small space Eric left her on the couch.

"Because it's a waste of money?" I answered as my brush continued to breathe life into every detail of the first male figure. I had decided to color the shadows in shades of white. Or lightly pigmented white. The three dancing figures had a very dark motif, so straight black was their negative space, while the rest of the world, not counting their auras, were a charcoal grey. It would highlight the colors in each soul. I had been sure to paint the back ground, already, so that there wouldn't be any interference with any colors I planned to add.

Unthinkingly, I scratched an itch on the left side of my jaw, smearing a deep red across the lower portion of my face. I barely registered the knock at the front door as I continued to dot a color here and swipe a color there.

"Please, I just need to talk to her, Eric." Sookie's voice broke through my mental fog, and I twitched as I twirled around, getting several strands stuck to my face. I pulled off my "Smartass with the power to paint you naked" apron, and stalked to the door.

"What does the high and mighty Sookie want with me?" I growled before taking in her appearance. Her makeup was ruined by tear tracks. Her eyes were red from crying so hard. But other than that, I saw no physical evidence that she was hurt. My eyes widened at her appearance. "Sookie, what's wrong?" I could feel a sense of dread come over me.

"I-I know you d-don't like him, But B-Bill is miss-ing!" She sobbed brokenly. "We w-were at dinner a-and he- he proposed! I didn't kn-ow what to do! So I-I went to the restroom to c-calm down, but when I c-came back he-!" She broke into a fresh round of wails. As much as I wanted to slam the door in her face for even bringing up that shitbag, I knew she really loved him. I could feel my eye twitching even as the words formed on my lips.

"I'll help you find him." And then I'm gonna kill him.