Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ravnos winced internally at the hand gripping his thigh. He didn’t need Missy questioning any agonized looks. “Easy.” He whispered to Grendel. He really didn’t need him snapping his leg in the middle of the club. But he made no motion to move the hand either. Unsure if Grendel would even let him or if he did what kind of reaction the God might have.

His head titled slightly as he heard Grendel’s words in his head and he shot him a small smirk. Ravnos found her pleasing to look at but apparently the opposite was to be said of Grendel. Was that jealousy?

The near miss of the chair wasn’t lost on him either.

“No, not those questions Missy. Questions about Vampires.”

She laughed while taking a seat, crossing her legs as she leaned back and tossing some hair back over a shoulder. “Well he obviously IS one so I don’t know what questions he would have.”

“Just shut up and listen would you?” Ravnos furrowed his brow and he smacked his hand against the table which caused a light chiming sound to vibrate through the air as the wood hit one of his rings The Daeva could be frustrating at times when she started running her mouth.

When the hand left he felt he missed it, a tingling sensation lingered and then was gone An odd feeling after the God had nearly crippled him with a mere grip of his hand.

His mind wandered the other things the God could break and those weren’t pleasant thoughts. Maybe the lead up but not the end result. He quickly brushed those thoughts aside.

The tease that came was a surprise but it made him smirk internally. Sometimes when you had business to conduct you had to work just a tiny bit of fear and respect. Both of which Missy lacked in strides. Leaning back in his seat he crossed his arms over his chest and watched. Listened. Dark eyes focused on the Daeva from behind strands of dark hair that fell over his eyes.

She hadn’t even flinched when Ravnos smacked the table to get her attention. She had seen how brutal he could be. Even experienced some of it herself, which brought a smirk to her red lips.

Closing her eyes she twirled a strand of black hair around a finger. Her crossed leg bouncing just slightly. “Just fine I suppose. Not as many as there used to be but that seems to be the norm. One day you’re swamped the next you are hard pressed to even find a Nos skulking about in the sewers.”

Her eyes opened, half lidded. “Why are you looking to buy me out? Or start a rival club?!” Missy’s voice got loud and high pitched. “I have a contract with the Prince to be the only club in this part of the city! NO RIVAL CLUBS!!” She made a high pitched screeching noise as she clenched her fists, a glare of daggers was shot at Ravnos.

“How dare you! You might be one of Caine’a favorites but how dare you do this to me Ravnos!” She kicked her chair back as she stood, pointing an accusing finger at him. Tears began to well up in her eyes. The fear of being put out by a rival club was evident in her face. “Where am I supposed to go now!”

Ravnos blinked at the display in front of them. Shooting a glance that said ‘Holy s**t what is happening right now?’ At Grendel.

When Grendel mouthed the words at him mockingly Ravnos had the urge to just walk out. It was bad enough that this girl was screaming them at the top of her lungs but from him? It cut deep.

But instead of storming out he merely turned his gaze away. He became detached from the situation. As long as Grendel wasn’t killing anyone he didn’t really need to pay attention. He was tired of Missy at the moment anyhow. Ravnos knew she has a couple screws loose and tended to jump to conclusions but he had hoped that wouldn’t happen. Not tonight.

Boy was he wrong

Missy gasped as she was thrown back into her chair and pulled forward across the floor. Her spine grew ridged as she sat up straight, eyes wide as she stared at Grendel. Her lower lip trembling ever so slightly.

At his question she laughed. “Are you serious? It’s been happening for years. Probably longer than I’ve been undead. There’s a surge and then a lull. Rinse and repeat.” At least she had calmed down now. He wasn’t after her club.

She blinked, Persng her lips into an o shape as she looked thoughtful. “Dunno. I’ve heard tales of monsters eating vamps since as long as I can remember.” Missy put a finger to the corner of her mouth. “Or maybe they are just tired of Hemlock and have moved on to that other place. The neutral place. But I would never go there they. It’s gross.”

“No way! They never set foot in this city and rarely ever on Hemlock. However..:.” Her voice grew dark as she leaned forward. “Step one foot off the island and you are fair game for them.”

Ravnos listened quietly. Monsters? Curious. And ones that were actually eating vampires? He filed through old stories and tales that he had heard over the years. But really only one came to mind.

“Crusniks?” He blurted out. Curious if Missy was familiar with the word.

Missy looked at him. No recognition of the word in her eyes as she shook her head with a shrug

Missy shook her head and stood. Casting a longing glance at Ravnos before she turned away and headed back stage.

Ravnos had been lost in thought so he missed the look. He knew little of Crusniks m. In fact, there was little info about them anywhere. They were so rare.

He glanced at Grendel before speaking. “Should we go now? I think we’ve gotten all we are going to get from here.” He didn’t necessarily mean for them to go right back to the camp but he was ready to get out of here and be anywhere else.

This new revelation didn’t sit well with him. It just couldn’t be right. There was no way. “I think we need more evidence before jumping to conclusions.” If it was that….thing. They were all most certainly ********. Hunting.

The blurry redness at the edges of his vision had almost gone unnoticed until Grendel brought up his need to feed. If he wasn’t careful and ate son he would go into a frenzy. And that would be a real bad thing for both of them. Ravnos had only gone into a frenzy a handful of times and during such times he became unhinged and it was hard to drag himself back from the edge each time.

“You are right. Let’s go hunting.” Standing from his chair he felt a slight tingling at the back of his head as he stood. Ravnos grasped the back of hos chair lightly as he waited for Grendel to lead the way out of the bar. Some cool night air would be a blessing right about now. He felt like hos skin was on fire.

Ravnos was never one to take information at face value. While information was valuable there were still some missing pieces to the puzzle that now even he was curious about. And if it were a Crusnik well… even he was likely ******** if he ever ran into it. For as old as he was and as powerful he may be from what little he knew Crusnik were made to kill vampires. And anything that could kill Kindred was far more dangerous than any other threat currently.

Taking Grendel’s arm he let him lead them outside. The night air was refreshing but his skin still felt as if it were burning. That slipping sensation he had come to recognize quite well was gaining just a little bit more traction. He was glad to finally be outside at least. The club was suffocating and now he felt he could breath.

His ears were ringing and he almost missed Grendel’s question. He tightened his grip on the God’s arm. “No, don’t leave…” His throat felt scratchy and dry. The scent of warm bodies nearby sent what blood was left pumping through his body.

Ravnos kept reassuring himself that he had control of his beast but his symptoms perhaps proved otherwise. “The alley…” jerking his chin towards the nearby dark alley he needed to get away from the mortals just for a minute to clear his head and get a grip on his reality.

The coolness of the alleyway brought little relief to the burning he felt beneath his skin. It was as if every nerve was firing and he saw stars in the darkness. No, he had to get control. He was better than this. But the more he struggled against it the more it seemed to be winning. The flood came faster and rose higher until it’s very nearly swallowed him while.

The strange part was it was almost as if he were watching all this happen from outside his body. Here he was calm and collected but his body was out of control and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“I can’t….” His voice strained, almost pleading before finally he made a move to sink his own fangs into Grendel’s arm in which he had ahold of. Internally he was screaming but the beast was winning.

Why hadn’t he just fed before they had left. Then maybe they would have completely avoided that situation with Missy. He had to be so stubborn about getting Grendel his answers, putting his needs before his own. Why did he do it?