Alpha David & the High Priestess Sinead

Expect the unexpected (2)

As they all started to make their way to the staircase, that smell, the really, really good one found its way to David’s nose. He had only half a second to wonder why it seemed to be getting stronger when he heard a female voice call out from behind them.

“Excuse me!” She called to them, running the last few steps, until she was within a few feet of the group.

“I am sorry for my intrusion.” She continued, making eye contact with the official advisor to the vampire king. “My name is Sinead. I want to work here as a dancer. I inquired if your establishment was hiring with your bartender, but he was unsure. From what you said to him, I deduced you were his superior. And from observation of your person, I conclude that a man with such presence and caliber as yourself would be able to answer my question.”

She paused in her speech. There was a very tense pause, as no one said anything. David didn’t realize he was holding his breath. He looked directly at her, though she wasn’t looking at him. He thought that he should look away from her, he felt sure he was staring.

But some part of him just couldn’t help it, but to notice her. It was like David was trying to memorize every feature, every aspect that made her, her. He began to feel self- conscious and stupid. Something was happening in his brain.

He tried to force himself to pay attention to his surroundings. David cursed himself silently, as she asked a question. He didn’t have his faculties about him to know what it was that she had asked. But he knew enough to know it was a question because of the intonation of her lovely voice.

He heard the official advisor vampire laugh. David pondered her lovely, musical voice as he took a deep breath in and got hit with a wave of that heavenly scent again.

‘It’s her’. He thought. ‘ She is the source of that delicious fragrance!’

He heard her speak again, in a voice full of confidence and almost… a sort of authority?

In response, there was even more cold and cruel sounding vampire laughter.

Finally, this time when she spoke, David’s brain was able to decipher the sounds falling from her lips into words, and the words into English sentences.

“Please, just give me a chance to prove myself.” She said.

“No.” The official advisor vampire said, in a flat tone. Even David could tell that this was his way of dismissing her from his presence. “Go home.”He finished, as he started to turn his back on her.

'Well, that is definitely not a suggestion.' David thought to himself.

He felt glad that the vampire had his back to her, and couldn’t see the frustration and anger written in the features of her face.

“Fine!” She shouted angrily. David was taken a bit off guard at the tone of her one word statement.

“We’ll do this the hard way.”She stated.

‘Wait? What?’ David thought. ‘Is that some sort of challenge?’

She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. As she did so, David felt the goosebumps on his arms, and a shudder went down his spine. He glanced over at Luke and realised from his posturing that he was suddenly on high alert and had his hackles raised. That strange feeling in the room was getting stronger. It was like a wave of some invisible, but very real force, and every second, it seemed to be growing. It seemed to be emanating from the floor near her feet. Was it...was it...magic?

‘Crap!’ David thought. ‘What in hell is going on here?’

Suddenly, she opened her eyes. They looked almost like they were glowing. They were a deep and very intense amber color. For a moment, David was entranced.

“Like a moth to a flame….” he mused. He blinked, and her eyes had changed back again. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

She smiled, in a way that made David incredibly uncomfortable. His insides felt like they were tied in knots. He forced himself to take a deep breath.

‘Luke!’ David thought, calling to him with his mind. But, David got no response. Luke had done all he could to keep his mind guarded. It was most likely a natural fear response, and, truth be told, David didn’t blame him; he felt pretty afraid himself.

David didn’t know what this woman was, he had never encountered a being like her. He knew witches and wizards had magical powers, but he had some contact with them before, and she was not one of them. The surge of power that surrounded her was far more than any witch or wizard would be able to control.

She snapped her fingers, and the music pulsing throughout the building stopped. There was an eerie silence, no one spoke, no one moved. David was almost sure they all held their collective breath.

She snapped her fingers again, and all the lights went out. The feeling in the building changed. It went from tension, to fear, to panic and confusion in a split second.

‘Please forgive me.’ David thought. Then he used the full force of his mind to push through the walls and barriers that Luke had put up between his mind and everyone else’s.

It was effective. David’s consciousness bored through the defences of Luke’s mind like a hot coal burns through flesh. He heard the small, and quick intake of Luke’s breath as he felt his second in command’s consciousness recoil from his own.

‘Luke!’ David’s mind growled to his.

A small breath of relief left him. ‘Yes?’ He thought to David in answer.

But David didn’t finish his previous thought conversation with him. David’s brain got side tracked. With his better- than- human night vision, he realised that she had somehow changed her clothes?

“What the…?” David whispered.

She snapped her fingers, and just as suddenly as before, the lights came back on. David squinted, as his eyes felt the need to adapt to the change in lighting once again.

There was still confusion in the building. People were afraid, some clinging to friends, some taking steps backward, as they all emitted that skittering energy; that evoked the image of cockroaches fleeing the light, to his mind.

But, another moment, and all was still and silent again. As far as David could tell, everyone was looking at her. There were various reasons for this, confusion, fear, the outfit she now wore, that fit her like a glove, the fact that the only bright lighting was on stage, and a spotlight that was trained on her. All other lights were dimmed to a soft, barely- there, glow.

David stupidly couldn’t take his eyes off her. He knew he was staring this time for sure. ‘She looks…’ He thought, but he couldn’t even finish his thought. There was no way that he could.

There was no one word David knew that could describe how she looked. Attractive, beautiful, confident, powerful, self- confident, sexy, dazzling? Somehow all the descriptors fell far from short. As David noticed her looking at him, he realised that he stood there with his mouth agape.

‘F-ing i***t!’ David chided himself silently. He shut his mouth and could feel the blush creep up his neck, across his cheeks and up to the tips of his ears. This whole situation was way too out of control.

She snapped her fingers and music began to play again throughout the building. As the opening bars of music began to reach David’s ears, it felt to him like his sense of time started to warp.

Everything around him was just too much and everything was happening too fast, it felt, for his brain to make proper sense of things. It was an awful feeling, very surreal. Like David had chugged way too many beers, way too fast.

In a distant way, he saw her moving away from them, and heard an angry voice shout for some guy named Greg to get the bouncers. David shook his head, trying desperately to clear this strange brain fog that had him in its grip.

A few moments later, things seemed a bit more normal, and looking around, most people seemed to have their wits about them as well. She was dancing her way up the stage stairs and those watching her began to cheer her on.

‘Luke?’ David began again, searching for his mind.

‘What?’ Luke’s mind asked David’s mind curiously.

David noticed she stood on the stage, facing the audience, posed and still for a moment.

‘I don’t know what is going on around here, but be ready for anything.’ David thought to him.

A male voice letting out a whoop, drew David’s attention again in the direction of the stage. She was dancing, and she was good at it. There was talent there and grace. But, sensing trouble for her, he turned his head to the left, and his eye caught a bouncer working his way roughly through the crowd in her direction.

‘Did she need help? Would she let him help her? Would she see him as a threat? But then again with the anger rolling off the advisor vampire, it would be unwise to take her side. It would jeopardise everything.’ David thought to himself.

‘What is the plan?’ Luke thought to David.

‘Um, working on it.’ David thought to his mind in return.

A glance at the stage, and David saw her take down the first bouncer.

‘She seems perfectly capable of taking care of herself.’ David thought to Luke, as they stared at the bouncer, who was now encased in a block of ice.

‘There is no way she is going to stick around after all this.’ He continued thinking to Luke. ‘It is clear she can use magic and that she is very powerful. I don’t know who, or what she is, and most importantly, I don’t know if she poses a threat in any way to us. But I intend to find out. There are those under my protection who I intend to keep safe. You will follow her, but do not let her know she is followed, until I contact you otherwise. I will deal with business here. I can handle things with just the lawyer and myself.’

Two more bouncers emerged from the front of the crowd. In no time flat, they found themselves encased in ice as well. About half a minute later, the song was done, and so was the dance. The crowd seemed very pleased. David watched as she left the stage, wound her way through the crowd, and left the building. He looked at Luke.

‘Go.’ David commanded him with his thoughts.

David took a deep breath and turned to face one very angry, very powerful vampire advisor to the king of vampires, and wondered what would come of all this.