Gotta head this off ASAP, she thought to herself. " 'Scuse me guys, I have to cut out for a minute, be right back.", she told the entire gang, heading for the stairs as fast as she could part the crowd. She caught up with him as he was starting a systematic search of the lower level lounge area.
"THERE you are." His voice almost trembled with suppressed anger. "I have spent the last several HOURS searching most of the town before I was told to try this place. What, if ANYTHING, were you thinking? You KNEW we were supposed to begin your combat training this weekend, yet you're squandering precious time bouncing around in here."
Anne replied in the same low-volume, high-intensity style,"I know all about that. Newsflash; the weekend starts TOMORROW. Late bulletin; I may be dropping OUT of your one-man dojo. Your last little brainstorm got me in trouble with the SCHOOL; I've had to deal with the local COPS, the METRO cops, been threatened with IMPERIAL Justice. I think even the SCOUTS want a piece of me..."
Br. Gerrard visibly calmed himself, pressing his palms together in front of him while breathing deeply. "I can see where we did not have a meeting of the minds regarding tonight. It's my doing, I should have been clearer. But what is this about the authorities becoming involved? The vampire was scattered to the winds, there was no corpus, no evidence..."
"DUH. Good 'ole Heneri's grave has a VACANCY as of last night. Somebody saw the disturbed ground, found him ABSENT, and yelled for the law. They're trying to make it political, 'cause of him being Vilani and all..."
"Still, why should they come here? We were all the way on the other side of the city, surely they can't be questioning every teenager in the entire metro area...?"
Anne quieted too as she confessed, "That's my fault. I dropped a lot of stuff during the fight, including my student ID. Name, horrible picture, home address, everything but a trail of breadcrumbs. I guess I'm a rank beginner at this secret stuff."
"I'm a novice also- and it was MY fault that they were able to find and grill you. A large part of my job is to protect you from exactly this sort of consequence. To cover up the abnormal elements, get rid of incriminating evidence, lay false trails, throw suspicion somewhere else. I'm afraid that when I saw you'd gotten hurt I forgot everything except getting you away safely. I shall do much better in the future."
"S'okay. No big deal. I'm not gonna quit, either. I just can't afford to get caught doing anything weird for a while, till this dies down. I guess working out isn't weird, is it?"
"No, not at all." Gerrard pulled out his antique watch, "In fact, since you don't have classes tomorrow, it's still early enough to fit in a short session..."
"No flipping way. I'm here with a bunch of friends, and other people. How can I explain why I'm cutting out in the middle of a fun evening, 'sorry pals, I have to go practice monster bashing now?' I'd be ducking questions until next Tuesday." She cut off his suggestion, "And walking out without saying anything will only put it off until they catch up with me. Nope. Clogging tonight, clobbering TOMORROW."
"I concede. See you tomorrow at eight.."
"Ten."
"Nine."
"Thirty."
"Nine-thirty."he sighed. "South side of the green, behind the fire station. Wear something light-weight and loose-fitting, that you don't mind getting dirty. You'll be falling down a lot, at least at first."
"Goodnight Gerrard."
"Goodnight Ms. Winters."
He left the building, shaking his head at having been so easily out-maneuvered by a girl little more than one-third his age. Anne watched him go, then turned to go back to rejoin her party.
Thomas Naasiir was prowling the fringe of the dancing area. The rumor was true, this place was indeed a happy hunting ground. He'd spent several hours mingling; looking, weighing attributes, coming down to a short list of candidates for the target of tonight. Unlike many of his compatriots, he enjoyed the preliminaries- almost as much as the main event. Almost.
What they considered an annoying waste of time, he found to be quite pleasurable. The thrill of the chase - zeroing in on his choice, and skillfully cutting her out of the general herd, always with the danger she would slip away - provided a rush nothing else could match. To get her to trust him, to get in close because she wanted him to, to set her up for the final zinger... all added zest to his ultimate pleasure.
He had worked down to a handful of promising prospects. The leading candidate was very much his type; young, fair, full of vibrant life. He'd checked her and the others out several times over the evening, but it was her skillful display on the dance floor that clinched her the number one place.
He'd had a bad moment when he saw her quarreling with her father. It looked as if she would escape, but when the older man left alone, Thomas decided to wait no longer. Even now, fate was steering her straight at him. Stepping so as to intercept her before she reached the stairs, he turned on all his charm, "Hi. I saw you out there earlier, and I really liked your style. Wanna dance some more, or maybe get something to drink...?"
Anne didn't register that the good-looking guy walking the other way was trying to catch her attention, at first because that was usually the last thing she thought of, then because a moment later she was fighting hard not to vomit right on the floor. The sudden surge of nausea hit without warning. Maybe the argument with Gerrard upset her more than she realized, unsettling the fried cake she'd wolfed down before going to talk to him, or maybe there WAS something wrong with the beanpaste that afternoon.
She was vaguely aware that the guy was trying to pick her up, at least for a dance or two, and managed to gulp out, "Sorry, later, maybe.." Her main concern was could she reach the distant bathroom, or just find a dim corner close at hand.
Thomas saw the girl turn a queer color and practically double over just as he approached and started trolling. It wasn't a sham to drive him off, she hadn't even noticed him yet. If she was ill, or having some other sort of problem; she'd be poor company now, and his fun later would be much diminished. Standing directly in front of her, he felt a strange, disquieting sensation of wrongness. Oh well, plan B. "Later then.", he said, moving to try for number two.
Just standing still a moment after the guy left, Anne felt much better. The nausea left as quickly as it came, all but an unsettled twinge in the pit of her stomach. Relieved at not having to pick a place to puke, she made her way back to the others. She wasn't nearly as shaky outwardly as she felt, but still Liz picked up that something was wrong.
"You see a ghost or something? Who was that guy? You okay?"
"Just another go-round with the mega-queesies. I think I'll sit out the next couple, till my insides decide to stay there."
"If you're coming down with something, maybe you should go home? I'll walk you.."
"No Liz, I'm fine again. It's the weirdest thing. I think I just overdid. Too much, too fast. I'll be fine if I can just sit quiet for a little while. No reason to poop the party."
"Lay off the munchies then," Lou said, "there's a reason why the stuff here is so cheap. I've got something that'll help quiet your tummy down, here chew on one or two of these."
He handed her a roll of digestive aids. "I always bring some here. Ususally it's me that can't take the food."
Anne mumbled thanks and dosed herself. The others headed for the floor below, leaving just the core four behind. Not wanting to have silence descend, she stirred her fruit drink and asked, "This is my first time here, how late do things go? Not like I can stay out all that late anyhow..."
Chris told her, "Well, they close the booze bar at two, and the band packs up then too, but on the weekends, the die-hards keep going untill almost sun-up, running canned music.
"Yeah", Lou added, "the decor sucks big time, but they put in first-class soundproofing. No complaints from the neighbors, plus this area is mostly commercial stuff, they roll up the sidewalks early- nobody around to object much at all anyway."
Anne sighed, "Thanks for sticking by me. I feel so stupid with whatever this is. In fact, this last time, a really cute guy was trying to talk to me, I had to blow him off or blow chunks all over his shoes. Life is just not fair."
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