Osiris City Streets

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Did not know that, actually. You were specifically addressed as 'the cursed witch boy'. Not hard to find, when you rule out Mayfairs." And then he gestured to himself with a silver-studded hand. "I'm Sirius, trapeze artist extraordinaire, world renowned star, and as such I don't pay for drinks to begin with. Let's go."
He had just crossed the street and stepped onto the sidewalk when, very suddenly and without warning, the rain came down upon his head with a vengeance, dense enough not to see his hand in front of his face. "Oh, look at that, a Mayfair just died," he shouted over the roar of splashing water, darting into the bar and shaking himself off. "It always does that when one of them dies," he sighed, smoothing one hand through his drenched hair and slamming the other down on the bar, "One minute nothing, the next---boom! Flash flood." The ornate crystal glass set before him on the counter then sparkled around it's emerald green contents, shining with the slotted silver spoon laid across the top of it. Sirius lit the sugar cube on fire himself---odd, most people thought, a vampire that wasn't terrified of fire---watching it turn translucent white and drip into the green depths. "To Stefan Mayfair," he called out, loudly, raising his glass in the air, and the few occupants scattered around the dim, smoky bar followed suit instantly, reverently, right down to the bartender whose eyes had gone misty. Say what they would about them, the Mayfairs were the much beloved royal family of Osiris City.  

[Okimiyage]

Rynn, shaking the rain from his hair and brushing it from the shoulders of his coat, was the only one who did not toast to Stefan Mayfair's death. Stepping up to the bar, he took a seat and ordered a bourbon. He damn near drowned himself in that drink. Rynn sat there for a minute, coughing like he'd never tasted hard liquor before, and then he sort of--pulled into himself, hunching his shoulders and pulling up his collar, as the alcohol hit his empty stomach.
Sirius moved with such elegant, precise movements. He made the preparation of absinthe look like a dance, Rynn observed. Leaning his elbows against the bar, he watched Sirius take his drink through slitted eyes, with a only-slightly-wicked-smile curving his lips. "So, you said you knew Antha. Had slept with her even, so tell me--how did you two meet in the first place?...I know it's none of my business, but entertain me. It looks like we're going to be stuck here for a while--we might as well get to know each other."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Nicholas," he answered, simply enough, as he threw back his absinthe and paused, closing his eyes as it went down. It would be coming back up soon enough, he knew that, and he wanted to enjoy it before his old love turned back into something ugly. "There were a lot of problems with wanting to set up shop here, initially. But Nicholas was determined, so eventually he struck a deal with her for the right to stay here for an indefinite period of time and conduct our business. Then God help him, he went and got all smitten with her. He was always inviting her to the shows, and she liked them immensely so she kept coming to watch. It was kind of inevitable, meeting her. And, being Antha, sleeping with her was kind of inevitable." His thin, half-bare shoulders shrugged gracefully as he brought his pipe back to his lips, taking a few lazy puffs before glancing back to Rynn. "I would ask how you met her, but I've been informed that I don't want to know, and so I don't. I imagine, though, that it has something to do with that curse branded on you. Terrible thing, that. It'll be the death of you, you know. After all, I'm only supposed to watch you for a couple of days, and if you don't return to the stormy green pastures of Antha's kingdom---and I have a sneaking suspicion you won't---" He didn't finish his sentence verbally, but rather took one long, talon-like fingernail and made a slicing motion across his neck. "You really have to wonder about these old ones though, all their superstitions and fear of everything but themselves. What do they really think your curse is going to do to them?"  

[Okimiyage]

"They would kill me?" he hissed, as quietly at he could. It wasn't difficult in this bar, which was rapidly growing crowded as the night went on and people sought shelter from the thundering curtains of rain outside. "Damn them. I have no business with the rest of the family, none at all--only her." He sighed. Which meant, of course, being the Mayfair Designee, everyone else was going to make it their business.
Rynn threw back the last of his bourbon, nearly choking himself on it, and when he looked back at Sirius, his eyes were dark with worry. But he did not show it--Rynn's filthy pride would never let him show such a shameful fear of death. Would Liesse be waiting for him, he wondered? Would she have already moved on. His heart beat a little more rapidly at the thought of seeing his twin.

"I suppose you've killed a lot of people," he said. It was a statement, not a question, and Rynn gazed into his bourbon glass with a stare that seemed regretful. Of course he had; they wouldn't have sent Sirius if they didn't think he was capable of killing. "Do you regret it, every time? Or do you get used to it? I don't understand how people can--"  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Not the Mayfairs," Sirius sighed, shaking his head, "Vampires. That's why Antha had me sent out here to watch you, the old vampires are the ones who want to kill you. They're...well, the old ones are just psychotic. The world they came from is not the one they live in now."
Sighing and demanding more absinthe, Sirius seemed to realize what Rynn had said and blinked a question at him, asking through the haze, "What 'business' do you have with her? Haven't you noticed that gets people killed around here?"
This led into silence, right up until he asked his last question, "You find people you don't mind killing," he murmured, staring dazedly at the stained glass mural behind the bar, "That's the trick. Completely forgettable people. Some vampires go for the 'evil' ones, some go for the suicidal once, but me? I go for the useless ones. Why should I care that I've killed someone who never has and never will contribute anything to society? Because I do contribute things, I outrank them in life, and I need them to live. Sure it sucks, I'd rather eat a goddamn apple to live, but it's necessary. So...eh. Do what you gotta' do." Again that shrug of his shoulders as he leaned back in his seat.  

[Okimiyage]

That was even more perplexing. "Vampires?" Rynn repeated, raising a brow. "I haven't even got anything to do with vampires. The only ones I've met are Antha's--" Now that he thought of it, she did seem to surround herself with them. Her own little court. "--and I hardly spoke to them. Why do the elder vampires want me dead?" With a sigh, he slumped onto the bar. "Everyone keeps going on an on about this 'curse'." he muttered, glumly. "I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Furthermore, I'll cut the nose off the next person who tries to stick theirs into my affairs." The bartender came up as Rynn pushed his glass forward, and refilled it for him. "The 'business' I had with Antha Mayfair--well, I tried to sacrifice her in a cannibalistic rite of honor for my ancestors. Ordinarily it's one of the family, of course, but Aleric said that there was precedent--in seventeen-whatever one of my forefathers sacrified 'a young negro, talented in the black arts of her people' to the ancestors instead, and they accepted her. Aleric said--the maze didn't care who it swallowed, just as long as they had a gift of the highest caliber." He laughed, a little hysterically. "And I'm sure all my brothers would have loved to eat me alive, but I couldn't leave Liesse there. So we called up my little sister Mary, stuffed her into Liesse, cooked up a story to lure Antha to the family plot--and made it all the way to the altar before she got cold feet and set the place on fire." Rynn smiled ruefully, looking up at Sirius in the first of what seemed an age.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Before Sirius knew it, the emerald liquid he had been draining down was being coughed back up from his throat, his bloodshot eyes going wide as he stared at Rynn. "That's how you got your curse?" he yelled, a split second away from jumping up and running for his life, though he stayed in the end, "Goddamn. No wonder they want to kill you. If this was my city, I'd kill you." He tapped the bar for a refill, wiping the glistening green absinthe from his chin and where it had dripped onto his neck. "Jesus Christ. I mean, do you have any idea how serious human sacrifice is around here?" He shook his head in disbelief, his eyes still wide as the next glass of absinthe was set on the counter and he tossed the sugar aside, draining it in the purest, most bitter form. "And cannibalism? I don't even want to get into how serious that is. If you want my advice, run. Get the hell out of this city and get rid of your name. Like I said, these vampires around here are ******** crazy, with their politics and the old ways. They don't allow curses to exist, they think they're like parasites, that they spread from the original host and gobble up everything they touch."  

[Okimiyage]

XCandy and LunacyX

Before Sirius knew it, the emerald liquid he had been draining down was being coughed back up from his throat, his bloodshot eyes going wide as he stared at Rynn. "That's how you got your curse?" he yelled, a split second away from jumping up and running for his life, though he stayed in the end, "Goddamn. No wonder they want to kill you. If this was my city, I'd kill you." He tapped the bar for a refill, wiping the glistening green absinthe from his chin and where it had dripped onto his neck. "Jesus Christ. I mean, do you have any idea how serious human sacrifice is around here?" He shook his head in disbelief, his eyes still wide as the next glass of absinthe was set on the counter and he tossed the sugar aside, draining it in the purest, most bitter form. "And cannibalism? I don't even want to get into how serious that is. If you want my advice, run. Get the hell out of this city and get rid of your name. Like I said, these vampires around here are ******** crazy, with their politics and the old ways. They don't allow curses to exist, they think they're like parasites, that they spread from the original host and gobble up everything they touch."

Sirius's reaction--Rynn couldn't help it--made him laugh. He clapped a hand over his mouth within seconds, stifling the sound in his throat, and shrugged. "I didn't know who Antha Mayfair was at the time; only that she was a witch, and powerful enough to be a sacrifice. That was all that mattered." He paused, glanced down at his drink regretfully. "Liesse seemed to like her, though. She always was a better judge of character than I--I wonder if I should have..."
Shaking his head as if to clear the thoughts away like cobwebs, Rynn said, firmly, "Anyways, I'm not leaving the city. They can kill me if they like--it doesn't matter. I was supposed to die in that ******** tomb no matter what. At least if Antha had murdered me like she did the rest of my family, the ancestors wouldn't have got us. Did I mention that? When we die of natural cause or if we are sacrificed, the house and maze get our souls. Whichever one of my ancestors who built that thing was <********> insane." He sighed, threw back a mouthful of bourbon that burned on its way down, making his eyes water and Rynn blink back tears. He hated alchohol; the only reason Rynn drank was to get drunk.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"So it's better to let vampires sacrifice you?" Sirius asked, scoffing, "You are twisted." He had forgotten for a little while that he hadn't wanted to be there, but it all came back to him now as he sat staring at his empty glass. Nicholas had been right---he really didn't want to know. "So what are you going to do? Get drunk and wait for them to come for you? Sound pretty anticlimactic to me."
He didn't say anything else about Antha. She seemed so sure that the witch boy would calm down and return to her, let her protect him from all the things in the city that went bump in the night, but Sirius was growing steadily less and less certain about her ideas, which made him question why he was there. If Rynn was headed for death anyways, why did Sirius need to bother keeping him alive for just a few more days. It was a waste of time. "So you're the only one?" he asked idly, "The last of your family? The end of the line?"  

[Okimiyage]

"It's not twisted," he said, idly tracing his finger about the rim of the glass. "Think of it as--as setting to rights an even that never should have happened." In his mind's eye, the raging bonfire of that night flickered madly. "Twins aren't supposed to be separated like this. We were born into this world together--aren't we supposed to leave it together, too? Isn't it my duty to stretch out by her corpse and wait for Death to come back--like, 'you forgot me'." He was beginning to feel the effects of that bourbon; his words were starting to slur. And he was being too talkative, he knew. "I'm not the last one left. Antha was the one who dragged me out--Nicolae got my brother." Biting his lip, he shook his head. "He's a vampire, isn't he? He could have got to my sister in time. I suppose they wanted Cian more; he's a good compromise. More powerful than Liesse, but more amenable than I am." He raised his head, resting his chin on his folded hands. "They're sleeping together now. Suppose that's why Antha's still got an interest in whatever I get up to; family is family, and blood is blood, and I'm the only brother he has left now."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

After a few moments of listening to him, Sirius settled down just long enough to become intrigued. "If Antha Mayfair has some interest in you, it has nothing to do with her sleeping with your brother. She's very good at separating sex from, well, everything else. Practice makes perfect, I guess."
He tilted back in his seat, balancing it on the back legs, and glanced up to the cracked ceiling. "And to be fair, she didn't drag you back and chain you up in her basement, did she? Unfortunately, that actually kind of means something coming from Evie." The vampire shrugged, pulling his feathered boa tighter around his arms. "As for your twin...I can't say I'm an expert, but isn't this the way it's supposed to go? Look at Nicolae and Malakai Mayfair. They used to be inseparable apparently, and then Nicolae got turned and vanished from the family and Malakai just kept going. Separate people have to have their own lives, to live and die on their own."  

[Okimiyage]

"Does she make a regular habit of dragging people home and chaining them up in her basement?" Rynn asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Not very sporting of her. It's at least fair to give them a running start." Reaching out, he began to stroke Sirius's feather boa. It looked incredibly fluffy, and Rynn was currently in a state of tipsy, so of course he had to touch it.
Realizing that he also couldn't pass up the opportunity to see a vampire off-balance, he gave a sharp push at the back of the chair as his fingers skimmed over Sirius's shoulder. Just to see what happens!
"Liesse needs me. She shouldn't have been the one to go first." he said firmly, turning back to his drink as though to feign uninvolvement. "What happens after you die? Who knows? Liesse--she was always such a child. A scaredy-cat--" and he laughed at the child's slang. "I imagine that death is cold, and dark. And I imagine her there, in the cold and dark, alone and afraid. She needs me." he repeated, somewhat desperately.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Frequently. Head starts don't matter---if Antha wants something done, it gets done. And if she wants to keep someone from running from her, she makes sure they can't. Letting you leave...it's kind of like a twisted mark of friendship from Antha."
It was sort of funny to Sirius, seeing a witch underestimate a vampire so greatly. But he humored him, let him push his chair a split second before his hands were on the edge of the bar and Sirius had hoisted himself up onto it, legs going straight above his head in the air, and he held himself there, upside-down, staring at Rynn. "Circus performer," he reminded him simply, balancing himself on one hand to secure his boa with the other, "You spend enough time on the trapeze and everything else is a breeze." He gave one small lunge with his hand, toppling himself over and flipping down onto his feet to take a good, long look at Rynn. He had wanted to just watch the boy, to do his job and then leave, but this was ridiculous. "You know, I had a certain level of involvement I was trying for," he sighed, curling his iron fingers around the boy's collar and reaching for the phone behind the bar, his fingers flying across the numbers and putting the receiver to his ear. "Damn it," he murmured, slamming it down and taking it up again, dialing another number, and then, "Yeah, is Antha there? Great, can you tell her to come pick her witch boy up before he hurts himself? The bar on Fifth Street. No, but he's getting there fast. Thanks." He hung up then, his fingers still locked to Rynn's shirt. "You need help," he said simply, staring him seriously in the eye, "Or at least your brother."  

[Okimiyage]

XCandy and LunacyX

"Frequently. Head starts don't matter---if Antha wants something done, it gets done. And if she wants to keep someone from running from her, she makes sure they can't. Letting you leave...it's kind of like a twisted mark of friendship from Antha."
It was sort of funny to Sirius, seeing a witch underestimate a vampire so greatly. But he humored him, let him push his chair a split second before his hands were on the edge of the bar and Sirius had hoisted himself up onto it, legs going straight above his head in the air, and he held himself there, upside-down, staring at Rynn. "Circus performer," he reminded him simply, balancing himself on one hand to secure his boa with the other, "You spend enough time on the trapeze and everything else is a breeze." He gave one small lunge with his hand, toppling himself over and flipping down onto his feet to take a good, long look at Rynn. He had wanted to just watch the boy, to do his job and then leave, but this was ridiculous. "You know, I had a certain level of involvement I was trying for," he sighed, curling his iron fingers around the boy's collar and reaching for the phone behind the bar, his fingers flying across the numbers and putting the receiver to his ear. "Damn it," he murmured, slamming it down and taking it up again, dialing another number, and then, "Yeah, is Antha there? Great, can you tell her to come pick her witch boy up before he hurts himself? The bar on Fifth Street. No, but he's getting there fast. Thanks." He hung up then, his fingers still locked to Rynn's shirt. "You need help," he said simply, staring him seriously in the eye, "Or at least your brother."

"Which might mean something if Antha Mayfair and I were anything like friends, or even mutual strangers." But she'd saved his life, and that was--kind of hard to take back, now.
Rynn had to admit, he was getting a little sloshed. The lights in the bar were beginning to have that funny little glow about them, and faces were starting to blur. But even Sirius's balancing act--for which Rynn dutifully clapped, smiling as widely as...well, as a kid who'd never been to see the circus before--could not distract him from what happened next.

After Sirius put down the receiver, Rynn stood up. "You little snitch," he said, as though amazed by it. He shouldn't have been--should have seen this coming. "For someone who claimed not to be an agent of Antha's, you're sure eager to report back to her," he said, and laughed. "Maybe I do need help. Maybe you're right. But I certainly didn't ask for it from you, or from any number of the red-headed witches in town."
Sirius had told them where he was; the best move was to leave the location immediately. Rain was still coming down in sheets outside, but Rynn's only acknowledgement of the miserable weather was to turn up the collar of his coat as he made his way to the door.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"If you want to die, you're welcome to do it," Sirius said simply, appearing in front of Rynn with a vampire's agility, an ironclad grip on his arm. He wasn't about to let the boy leave. "But you've gotten me involved now, and I have to take some small measure against it. For my conscience, you know. And since my life is kind of riding on keeping you alive for a little while---Antha will kill me if you die on my watch---I'm not taking any chances. Let Antha come, tell her what's on your mind, and that will be that. You'll be rid of her and you can do whatever the hell you want and I'll have no reason to stop you." He made no comment about their friendship that did or didn't exist. He knew Antha well enough to guess how she felt about the terribly stubborn witch boy---truth be told, he reminded Sirius of her---but that didn't matter.
It was several minutes later that the wheels of Vittorio and Jack's car squealed to a stop outside the bar and the boys came running in, their arms over their heads to protect themselves from the rain. "This is the last thing I want to be doing right now," Jack groaned, shaking himself off.
"Antha didn't want to come collect him?" Sirius asked, handing Rynn over to their custody like a prisoner.
Vittorio shook his head, taking hold of the boy, "She's a little preoccupied."
"'Preoccupied'?" Jack scoffed, staring at his cousin, "That's making molehills out of mountains. Stefan's dead and she's pregnant." The less careful of the two cousins, Jack ignored Vittorio's threatening glare and looked to Rynn, "Looks like the Calais blood isn't going to die off so easily after all. It's just going to be swallowed by the Mayfair blood."
"The kid's brother?" Sirius guessed, as a sidebar to Vittorio who nodded in the affirmative. "Ah."