[OPEN] MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR

[baisant]

The Duke of Central London's Samhain festivities are open upon invitation only. Those who are fortunate enough to have received one, either from the Duke himself or from one of his guests, are privy to quite the affair. Raymond has obviously been planning this for some time now, and the bar is fully stocked, the room fully decorated for the festivities. Collected from the fae hunt that their leader had encouraged, fae blood flows freely, available freshly served in punch bowls or straight from the source itself, in the form of kidnapped fae off of the streets. The vampires who partake are drunk with it and high on the euphoria that it offers, a drug unlike any other their kind can partake in.

As promised by Raymond himself, it is a rave the likes that London has never seen before. And it's about to get a lot more memorable still...

Comments

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin smiles, showing her his bloodstained teeth. "Got a bit of exercise in. Worked up an appetite, too, but I will spare your delicate sensibilities for the moment. Provided you're still starving yourself?"

He doesn't sound concerned; he's just making conversation with the condescending air of someone asking about how a diet is going. If she wants to be silly and naive, that is her decision. Instead, he finds a glass of half-drunk wine forgotten on the table next to them and raises it in a mocking toast.

"Sic semper tyrranus, as they say. May our new regime fare better than the last two. Or mine, for that matter.."

[outstandingbalance]

"In pace requiescat," Natasha murmurs, snorting softly. It's clear from her pronunciation that Latin was part of her education. Not that it's surprising since Latin was once essential to most formal educations.

She lets the comment about her diet slide. Not answering it answers well enough, in her opinion. Joscelin is no ruder or more condescending than several other vampires she's met in London. It's not unexpected.

"Jean-Claude has an advantage over Harris, at least. He took the position because there was a power vacuum. Jean-Claude claimed it."

And in a vampire nest, that made a difference.

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin had been raised in a monastery; Latin was practically his mother tongue (it also helped that his sire had been born in Rome in the First Century). It takes a great effort to resist his innate need to one up her Latin with more of his own and simply mockingly crosses himself. "Well, he's not resting anywhere anymore, peacefully or otherwise. I'd wish him a thorough roasting in hell, if not for the fact that he's not going there either."

Vampires only get to cheat death once. Their second deaths are not nearly as forgiving as their first. Raymond Harris had ceased to exist in any form, and that is as it should be.

Joscelin contemplates what little remains in his glass. "I have known Jean-Claude for more than a century. I suppose I had not thought him capable of something like this; he's never been one for getting his hands dirty. A public execution stands him in good stead with the Nest; none of us can resist a good bloodbath. But still, I worry. He is as close to a friend as I am capable of having, and I know that there are many young vampires who preferred Raymond Harris's style of governing, and many of the old guard who have never liked him."

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha shrugs off the comment. She's not all that inclined to waste time considering what happens to vampires when they die. Really die, that is. She'd spent her youth an atheist, insofar as she was anything, and the idea of nothing after death doesn't trouble her. Not that she's in any hurry for meet it, but if that's the end, that's the end.

"From you, that's high praise." Or she assumes it is. Natasha sees no reason to disbelief his own words.

Natasha leans back, arms crossed over her chest thoughtfully. "So I hear. I don't know all the details, but I hear he's not always the most popular. Still... he appeals to enough of the nest that they'll take his side. Most of them will go with whatever the status quo is."

[dredefulchilde]

Now it's Joss's turn to shrug. It is high praise coming from him--the highest he can offer. But he sees no need to comment further. He does not, as a general rule, express emotion to anyone. "It needed to be said."

He shakes his head. "Most, but not all," he cautions. "Being effectively immortal means we tend to hold grudges for quite a long time. I am still persona non grata to most in the Nest over one hundred and fifty years of age, with a few notable exceptions. I doubt it will be any different here, unless every single Raymond Harris partisan is purged, with immediate effect."

[outstandingbalance]

"You're not wrong, but you don't live to be that old without learning to keep your head down when you have to. Effectively immortal or not, being stupid and petty is a good way to end up dead." Natasha says with an air of practicality. Left unsaid is the fact being idealistic and determined is another good way to get killed. They both already know that part too. "I think any of Harris's followers who'd like to outlive this regime will be keeping their heads down."

Natasha's Russian. She knows something about outliving regimes.

[dredefulchilde]

"Well, we can only hope that is true," Joscelin agrees. "For all of our sakes."

Because Natasha had picked a side. Despite her other allegiances and suicidal aversion to blood, Natasha had thrown in her lot with Jean-Claude's partisans and the old status quo.

"Why did you come here tonight? Besides the obvious, of course. You say that you are uninterested in joining the Nest, and yet whenever there is trouble here you are not far behind."

[outstandingbalance]

"I weighed my options and made what I thought was the best call. Believe it or not, most folks don't as you if you're actually part of a nest when they see a vampire." She says it flatly, as though that's all there was to it. Natasha doesn't try to make moral arguments for what she's doing. Not just because she doesn't believe they'll impress her audience, but also because she doesn't feel right with them. Her lips twitch though as she does consider who she's talking to. It's almost a smile. "Somehow, I think you would believe this."

She sighs then, softly. "It's best for me if the Nest is on good terms with the rest of the community. Not really that complicated."

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin looks over at Jean-Claude, who is receiving congratulations from other members of their faction. He gestures to the scene. "Jean-Claude agrees with you. You could join us, you know. You might even be welcomed. You could be our liason between Islington and Redbright, if you wanted."

[outstandingbalance]

Following with her eyes, Natasha answers more softly. "I'd be lying if I said it hasn't occurred to me." Considering Redbright's actions and the difficulty being a long vampire, the arguments in favor of it weren't flimsy. "But as long as I'm on the wagon, seems like a bad idea."

[dredefulchilde]

"I imagine there will still be a place for you here, no matter what you decide." Joscelin sounds almost kind, uncharacteristically so. "Jean-Claude is soft that way."

Redbright is a flash in the pan; its control over the Night Council can only last as long as its human players. The Nest will outlive them all.

"You have skill. It's wasted on the witches."

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha's glance his direction is cautious, not sure how to take his response. It's far more complimentary than she would expect from him. Not untrue, though. Neither part.

"I'd to think we have a mutual understanding on that score." Even if she didn't take a place in the Nest, she could still have a place as his ally.

Besides that... they all have time.

"The witches won't have it forever."