Fancy Meeting You Here {OPEN}

[Deleted]

It was a busy evening and Lexi found herself helping out at the bar since Ben had taken the night off. In all honesty, she really enjoyed these evenings when she could just pretend to be one of the help and not have to worry about fifty million things that running a club entailed.

Dressed in supple black leather pants that hugged her lithe frame and a crimson red halter top that accented her killer curves, the sexy blond halfling filled drink orders in good time and then told Everett she was going to bring up some more bottles of the hard stuff.

Slipping into the back room, she went through her list of what was needed and then placed the bottles into a crate that she could carry. Taking the opportunity to slip upstairs and call her sister to check in. She'd been leaving Salem at their house more and more these days, much to Damons disgust and Kaybug's joy, and she wanted to make sure her own "kid" wasn't causing to much trouble. Plus, it was her one life line to a place that didn't revolve around work. Thankfully, it seemed Salem was on his best behavior though and after making kissy noises to the phone for Kayla and telling Karlie that she loved her, she hung up and gave a little sigh of happiness. It was so nice to see her family happy, she thought almost wistfully.

Sighing a bit, she got to her feet and then went down to pick up the box of alcohol. Carrying it in front of her, she wandered back out front and was just putting the bottles away when a vibration went through her and she carefully turned to look up and down the bar. Her keen eyes scanned every face and feature for the unnameable something that sent warning bells clattering in her head. It wasn't' until she'd turned her attention to the other side of the bar that she found the general area of concern.

Since the bar was divided on levels, there were three different sections of counters. The top level, where she stood, was reserved for VIP's. The other two levels were situated on opposite ends of the house and it was at the one closer to the door that she found the creature that set of the alarms.

"Everett... Watch the bar.... Call Erik over if you need him.." she said suddenly, giving her bartender a closed look before slipping from behind the mahogany and heading towards the far side of the club. Unsure if trouble awaited or something else, she carefully scanned the crowd as she went. When she reached the area in question, she frowned, still feeling that niggling feeling at the back of her neck but unable to identify just what was causing it.

[Luka Nikolai Neverov]

Luka had been a walking corpse for too damn long. Yes, he was still hunting humans, torturing them with all the artistic panache that had put his name on the front page of newspapers, and even running a popular club that catered to evil doers, but the Russian vampire was hungry for more that what he'd tasted lately.
In a word, Luka was bored.
The Russian needed more excitement than what normal life had been providing him with and to a creature such as himself common place was an infection that went straight to his black soul.

The 'hunger' was threatening to consume what was left of his sanity and this just would not do.

Amazingly enough the vampire could remember the exact moment he'd died nearly two years ago. He'd been playing the game of his life with a powerful witch and her hunter friends and had never felt so alive as he did then.
Victory had been so close he'd felt it in his cold, alabaster hands and then...then it had been ripped violently out of his grasp.
The loss had been devastating and had driven him underground like a wounded rat to heal from the physical and mental injury.

Damn  that woman. Damn her to hell...which was exactly where he was going to drag her, and very, very soon.

Luka had been a busy boy the past few months. The location of his business was no mere coincidence. Since crawling up out of the sewers where he'd been rotting away the Russian had made it his mission to find the bitch witch and make her pay. Perhaps with her life this time, or maybe something infinitely worse.
Like him, the blonde had been seriously wounded and had hidden away to heal but eventually she had come back out into the light. And Luka had found her. He always would. The female had gotten inside of him; burrowing into his dark soul and taking up rez. along with all the shadow.
Amongst all that black it was obvious why it was so easy for the vampire to track her down. She was a beacon. A goddess. And he was going to destroy her.

Just like before the stunning sorceress had opened her own establishment, which had made it even easier for Luka to find out where she made her home.
In the same town, The Church had fallen into his lap by way of a rather rich and twisted man with a death wish, which the vampire had been more than happy to grant. He was, after all, a god among men with the power to determine if a human was worthy of the dark kiss or  the long sleep.
Luka didn't immediately rush in to seize the witch, instead establishing his business and stalking the woman like a malevolent shadow.
He was biding his time until the perfect moment.

With a very specific hunger clawing at his mind as well as ripping his insides apart, the Russian figured tonight was just that moment.
He had starved himself, letting the thirst push him closer to the brink of madness and enjoying the pain but this evening Luka felt if he waited any longer he would not be the one in control.

Of course the witch's sawdust-on-the-floor bar was booming. Just as the Cat's Meow had once been, the dive was a prevalent spot for ever y kind of clientele imaginable from youthful college kids, the older biker crowd and even some incognito supernaturals he could smell mingling among the humans .
Regardless of all the beating hearts and racing pulses around him, the Russian had a taste for only one brand of intoxication.
Lexi Blair.
Even though she was clear across the sea of writhing bodies within the big club Luka sensed the seraph as soon as he entered.
It was an electric tingle at the base of his neck. It was an itch in his canines and the way his mouth filled with saliva at the remembered taste of her potent blood. The vampire, being the ultimate predator, didn't move or even blink an eye. She would feel him there.
Whether Alexis knew it or not they were bonded more intimately than a pair of lovers...which wasn't such a bad idea. Luka had all kinds of desires to be sated...

He knew the moment she sensed him. Lexi's body language shifted from relaxed to aware, and her shrewd azure eyes moved around the huge room until the met Luka's icy stare and held it captive like a butterfly caught in a gossamer spider web.
His lip twitched up at the corner in a whisper of a sly smile. and he moved toward her like a promise of pain made corperal. Deadly. Elegant. Deliberate, just like her.
The people in his path moved out of his way instinctually, as if they could feel the wickedness coming out of him. He was wholly unconcerned with the rest of the cattle, his inner thrill growing as he closed the distance between he and the witch.

She was moving towards him too...unafraid. Perhaps she didn't recognize him or...
She was smarter than any he'd met before and was well aware of the chaos that would ensue if she ran.

"Fancy meeting you here." Luka purred at her in a thick Slovic brogue as they met in the middle of all the dancing. Funny, this could go either way and yet the humans were blissfully unaware of the danger they were in.

[Deleted]

He was here. The prickle along her skin told her that. Somewhere in the mass of heaving, sweaty bodies was the man she'd come to think of as her living nightmare. Well, maybe living wasn't the word for it exactly since he was a vampire but the sentiment was the same. The creature responsible for all her fears was in her club at that very moment and, instead of making her afraid? It succeeded in pissing her off which was a nice change from how she'd always envisioned this moment should it ever happen. She wasn't a wet behind the ears kid anymore just learning to use her powers. Oh no, this time, she was a woman in full control of the skills she could wield and he wouldn't find her the easy prey he had before.

Turning her brilliant azure gaze to the crowd before her, the angelically elegant blond allowed herself to take in each face even as she moved through the crowd that would done a rave proud. Each step she took made her skin twitch with awareness and she couldn't help but compare it to the last time she'd felt the same way. The last night she'd seen Luka Neverov's face above her own as he shut the lid of the coffin, sealing her in for the fate he'd decided. 

That remembrance cause a tremor of fear to surge forth but she pushed it back ruthlessly. No, not this time you son of a bitch, she thought to herself even as she could have sworn the floor moved beneath her from the emotions whirling inside. Keep it together, Blair, she told herself even as people around her looked questioningly and then shrugged.

Then, she saw him. Standing like a spider in his web, completely unconcerned by the instinctive fear he put into the mere mortals around him. As their eyes clashed and held, Lexi narrowed her gaze and lifted a slim brow as she moved towards him. Let him make what he would of that she decided even as he too started in her direction. Mentally, she prepared her defenses as he came closer and felt magic flicker in her fingertips as they finally squared off in a suddenly deserted part of the club.

Letting him get off the first firing shot, the blond simply arched a cold brow.  "Neverov. I admit, I'm quiet surprised to see you here, too. Not really your sort of place is it?" she drawled out, keeping her voice pleasant even as her stance was relaxed but ready. "I thought you preferred dark, under ground places with less willing clients."

As they spared, Lexi mentally noted what she could about him and then debated how the hell she could get him out of here without causing a scene. Luka liked scenes but it was her duty to protect those who came to her club and Luka was the worst sort of monster.

"Why are you here, Luka? Theres nothing for you here. I'm afraid you've wasted your time."

[Luka Nikolai Neverov]

Standing before her, Luka was nothing of the vampire she had one known and yet, he was exactly the same.
So close, the scent of her didn't just tickle his nose but clawed at it and the inside of him; a thoroughly intoxicating and thrilling and maddening mix that would have brought a weaker creature to his knees.
Unlike the sporadic male she had met once before, the Russian had somewhat learned to control himself. If not absolute control he had learned to manipulate his cravings so that  waiting made the pain, and pleasure so much more satisfying.
After all he had been forced into the shadows...to heal...endless waiting...

Her first retort drew a low growl out of Luka's throat. Yes...indeed recently he had been lurking underground but only because she and the hunters that had helped her had compelled him there. The Russian had fed from rats and scaly sewer life until he'd felt something of the vampire that he once was. It had been utterly degrading for the man.
"Oh yes. I do quite enjoy those kinds of places. But only when I must. Just as all the alligators that have been flushed. Or the rats that have no fear. We all must make due vith vat ve have, nyet? He tilted his head cordially at her and gave her just a hint of fang within a grin that hid his anger.
"And villing is a state of mind. You should know this by now. Something easily changed."

Of course the Russian did not fail to notice the way her ocean colored eyes sized him up with an intake of air. The slight twinge of fear he could smell on her made his hunger gnaw, but the untainted boldness radiating off of her was just as desirable. She would die to protect the strangers around them. He knew this about her just like he knew the taste of her skin. It drew his tongue out across his lips as his icy glare swept up and down her lithe form greedily. He would taste it again. Soon.

"Luka does not waste time. This is vhy I am here." The Russian swept his pale palm in front of her, and then around as if to gesture the whole club. The hundreds of unknowing, unwilling.
The wicked grin on his handsome face was far too blameless, and his eyes sparkled with an arrogant, chaotic light.
"Vod you like a drink, Lexi? You look...rather pale. As if you've seen a ghost."

[Deleted]

Facing off with ones nightmare was never easy, no matter who you were. The thing about monsters though? They fed off your fear and it gave them a certain advantage. An advantage Lexi didn't care to give the vampire this time around. After all, times changed and this time he wasn't holding all of the cards. No matter how much he thought he might be.

Squaring her shoulders and pasting a bored expression on her elegant features, the blond adapted a careless air even as she followed his gaze around the club. His threat was obvious but she didn't react, content to let him play his cards while keeping hers close to her chest. Luka liked to put on a show and play the big bad evil but she knew his game was something else entirely. He fed on peoples panic and pain as much as he did their blood and she wasn't about to give him anything of herself.

Not this time around.

"Ah, yes... In that I suppose your right. However, it takes a sadistic sort of mind to enjoy that sort of thing and I'm afraid its never been my cup of tea." she drawled out in return to his provocation. "As far as the rats and alligators? I'm sure you found them good company.. Those of a feather and all that." she finished with a sly smirk.

When he waved a hand to the club, Lexi didn't bother to tense. Showing no reaction to his words, she simply tilted her head a bit and observed him like a particularly interesting bug. One that she couldn't make up her mind whether to squash or not.

"Well,  if you don't waste time then I'm doubly confused as to why you are here, Luka. Theres nothing here for you. Not tonight. Not ever. Not anymore." she retorted calmly, quirking a brow upward. "Did you learn nothing from last time? One might think you had a death wish. Oh wait, thats right. I forgot. You are already dead and we both know you get off on pain so... Actually, I'm NOT surprised."

Taking a step closer to him, the angelic looking woman's glinted with her own brand of hellish intent. Peering straight up at him, she let him see the anger burning there at his daring at coming into her place and confronting her. With a slim finger, she poked him in the chest even as she smiled evilly.

"As for ghosts? I only wish it were so since then I wouldn't have to listen to a bunch of your evil speel. It grows quiet tiresome after awhile, Luka, and Im not in the mood to deal with it." she retorted, voice only loud enough for him to hear as she glared at him politely. "So... Again I ask... What do you want, Neverov? Do us both a favor and cut to the chase. We both know you aren't here for them when you can have plenty of unwilling victims elsewhere."

[Luka Nikolai Neverov]

Was it too much to ask for a little bit of outward terror from the witch? A little quaking in her strappy  shoes or some screaming?
Luka had been waiting for this moment for years and had pictured it going very differently. They had shared so much pain and tragedy, the Russian had expected more emotion in the reunion. His disappointment was evident for a moment in the transitory loss of his arrogant smile.

Alexis' smart remark as to birds of a feather didn't sting as much as her following remarks. Luka was as slimy as all those sewer dwellers. His blood was cold and his heart even frostier, but unlike those loathsome creatures he needed more than darkness and damp. He needed glory. Glory came in the form of a blonde spell weaver named Lexi Blair.

"Oh, I get off on more than that, Mila Moya. My only vish is that I had showed you  before you vere stolen from me."
The devil's grin was back in place. The verbal lashing was enough to arouse the vampire, as he pictured her words in the form of spiked whips and chains and she wearing nothing but a leather cat suit.
His lips fell open in a gasp when the refined female stepped forward to gaze up into his stark face. Even dead the vampire could feel the sharp lick of electricity sparking off her delicious body and he wanted more of it. Yes, pain was his pleasure and as powerful a witch as she was, Luka imagined her marque of punishment would be even more potent that it was before. Like a fine wine she must have grown stronger; her blood more savory than when he had tasted it in years past.

When a slim digit came up to stab his chest the vampire loosed a slight murmur of satisfaction. This was more like it! Her touch, as delicate as it was, gave the twisted Russian exactly what he wanted. She could pretend all she wanted that she wasn't moved by his presence but...he knew the witch better than that.

Luka grasped the hand that had nudged him carefully so not to bruise her perfect skin. She was after all, a work of art and he appreciated fine art more than even potent blood.
In a perfectly uncharacteristic move the Russian used his careful grasp to gently twirl the woman, and he smiled at the way her white-blond hair floated in the air.

"You know vat I vant, witch. It is vat I have always wanted."
The handsome blood-drinker gave her a guiltless grin though his thoughts were anything but. "You, Lexi Blair. It is you that I want."

Luka released her hand with a careless air and glanced to the bar. "Have a drink vith an old friend and I vill leave you to your unwilling. Just vone drink."

[Deleted]

The audacity of the vampire never ceased to amaze Lexi. Stolen from him? He'd freaking buried her alive in a coffin for her loved ones to find! And that was only after a week of bloody torture that had never been far from her nightmares in the last few years.

Opening her ruby lips to give him a sharp retort, the blond found herself suddenly distracted from her set down by the touch of his hand upon hers. Glancing downward in bemusement, she lost her focus for a millimeter of a second because the caress was surprisingly gentle. So very un-Luka like that she didn't even resist when she was twirled, a soft gasp of surprise escaping her. As they're eyes met, the angelic beauty was startled by a different kind of awareness and then he was letting her go, movement almost.. careless.

Damn it all to hell, the vamp had done it again. Put her off center and off her game. The realization made Lexi grit her teeth even as she listened to his raspy words and mentally wished him to perdition. He wanted her, did he? Well, that was just to bad because he couldn't have her.

As she was released, the elegant blond pasted on a smile that matched his own for innocence. The glitter in her cobalt gaze spoke volumes about his under handed maneuvering but that, for the moment, she was willing to go along with the flow. For the sake of her patrons and their fragile states of existence.

"Very well, Neverov." she said crisply, turning towards the bar and forcing a pleasant expression for those watching. "One drink. In my office." she told him, voice low even as she became aware of how their encounter might seem to others. No doubt from some of the speculative glances tossed in their direction, more than a few thought them would be lovers.

Oh if they only knew, she inwardly fumed even as she lead the way through the throng and towards the back. With her power flickering madly about her in steady pulses, she was hyper aware of the vampire at her back and part of her was torn between the need to keep him in sight at all times and the need to show him she wasn't threatened by him one wit.

Catching Ben's alarmed expression as he spied Luka, Lexi quickly shook her head and then ducked into the back and the set of stairs that lead upstairs to her private office. Moving up them with deliberate ease, the club owner pushed open her door and then waited for the male to follow her inward. Then, and only then, did she drop her pretense as she moved towards the small bar area in the corner.

Glancing over her shoulder at the vampire, she met Luka's gaze. "What will it be, Luka? I'm afraid our tastes here are... simpler but if you like good vodka, a friend of mine sent me some from Moscow awhile back." she said, voice level even though she was ashamed to notice her hands shook a bit as she reached for the bottle. "Never let it be said I'm not a woman of my word..."

[Luka Nikolai Neverov]

The Russian felt the vibrant current of power lick his pale skin. With every surge of emotion from the witch standing before him, the vampire grew more aware of them; from the slight tinge of rich chocolate from her surprise to the wintergreen mint of her forced calm. It had been too long but the immortal male felt as if she had never left him. She had been his internal prisoner all along.

Imagine his surprise when the witch actually accepted his offer, and turned pointedly on her heel to take them somewhere without prying eyes.
Alone?
The Russian was hit by the starkest sense of danger, and unbidden, the tingle stole the venom from him mouth. Yes. There was silent threat in her glowing azure eyes and yes, did that turn him on brighter than the suns glow.
The vampire was a glutton for punishment in the worst kind of way, after all.

Trailing the voluptuous blonde like panting dog on a leash the eccentric blood drinker didn't miss the glance the woman cast towards her staff. A cocky smile wrote a frightening poem across the vampire's visage as he offered Ben a little wave, and a shrug of his shoulders.
They could imagine what ever they wished about what would take place upstairs between the witch and the hungry male, but they would never guess correctly. Starving as Luka might be, he had no intention of harming her. Just yet. 

Up, up, up they went and Neverov's mouth grew bone dry; the sight of her muscled rear ahead of him a temptation that whispered in his ear.
It was all he could do not to grab her around those firm hips, but he held onto his self control  for precious life.
Finally they reached her inner sanctum and the witch closed them in together and then crossed to the bar.
Luka could fairly taste the faint hint of her fear mingle with her other emotions, and it drew a quiet moan out of his throat. She was a delicious temptation to be sure.

A dark brow arched up at her inquiry and following comment, as it held all the guileless sensuousness as her aroma.
"You certainly are a voman of vords.." Luka purred as he strode toward her with deliberate predatory ease. "And curves to overwhelm Botticelli's female's and a taste finer that divine ambrosia."
Luka paused just short of pressing his lithe body against hers, and tilted his head dubiously as he gazed down on her. "It vod be a taste of you if I vere allowed, but as I'm sure I'm not I'll take that milk from the mother instead."

The vampire nodded his head at the fine Russian vodka and let his white-blue eyes drop to her trembling hand.

"Do not fear me Alexis. I'm not here tonight to settle old grudges."

Old grudges was putting it too mildly. Luka was well aware of the threat she posed to him right here, right now, in the confines of her personal space.

[Deleted]

She should kill him. Strike him where he stood, defenseless in that moment. It was her one chance but Lexi had never been one to take unfair advantage. A believer in all things fair, not even the vampire in front of her could make her break that cardinal rule. If she did, she'd be no better than he.

Besides, honesty forced her to admit, if only to herself, that she was curious as to why he'd show now of all times. After years had passed and now that she obviously wasn't the same girl he'd taken great pleasure in tormenting, why would he approach her like this? What was that lingering hint of emotion she kept seeing flash in his dark eyes? If she didn't know better, she'd almost think it... loneliness? No, that couldn't be right. Luka was not a creature who suffered from human emotions.

Feeling akin to prey being stalked by the big bad ..well.. vampire, in this case, Lexi felt him come up behind her and, although he didn't touch her, she felt as if invisible hands stroked her skin. The husky tember of his voice caused a little shudder to rack her lithe frame even as azure eyes met sinful dark ones over her shoulder. The proximity of his fangs to her slender neck was obvious but for some reason, his next words strangely assured her.

What the ever loving hell?

Wondering vaguely if he'd already put some sort of seduction spell upon her, the elegant blond shifted and thrust out a glass of vodka to him. Using the movement to force distance between them, she arched one slim brow, taking a sip of her own drink before replying. "Old grudges? Is that what we are calling it these days, Luka? You kidnapped me, tortured me and then buried me alive. I think that qualifies for something far more than an old grudge. If left to you, I'd be a rotting corpse in the ground right now." she said, strength coming into her voice even as power that she couldn't control started to snap around her at the memories. "I suppose I should thank you though in a way.. After all, it was your actions that finally unlocked the powers my heritage gave me. Who'd have ever thought that, right?"

[Luka Nikolai Neverov]

This close to the lithe blonde witch, the vampire could feel the rise in her temperature as if it were a warm breath blown across his alabaster skin. Unbidden, the fine hairs on the back of his neck rose and a shiver moved down his spine.
The current which flickered between them only fueled his wayward thoughts and so it was with great disappointment that Lexi spun around to thrust the tumbler at him; effectively putting distance between them and severing the connection that licked at his skin.

Well, well...what was this? The female was blooming with a hesitant anticipation that he could fairly taste on the air. Mmmm...dark chocolate. This certainly wasn't what he was expecting.
Although hate was an emotion that wasn't all that different from love. Passion could burn cities to the ground and Alexis had enough of it to cast the world into eternal flames.

Luka lifted the offered liquor to his lips for a taste but paused, smirking at the female's words. "You are so very wrong, vitch." The Russian said with a casual shrug and then took a long drink from his tumbler.
He took a moment to savor the taste of fine vodka as well as so the woman could wonder at his comment, and held the glass up in silent toast.

"Is fine milk." he stated and then turned away, pretentiously looking around the room while his previous words still hung in the air like blood covered shackles.
Moving over to a buttery leather couch opposite where they stood, Luka sprawled across it and finally returned his attention to the witch; whose white-blonde hair was floating with the energy building inside of her.
 Luka tilted his head, gazing at the woman as if she were a beautiful enigma that could be solved with a mere look...which obviously was not the case and the reason for his fervent obsession.

"I vod not have let you become rotting corpse. If hunters had not found you I vod have removed you from dirt and continued game. Believe me. I vas not planning on loosing match."
With this the Russian vampire grew a sour expression, as if reliving the loss in his mind even as he looked at her.

"I knew of your power. Is why I chose you."
He added absently, his eyes suddenly becoming clear as the reveries faded from his mind. "And vat vill you do vith all that power now that it is...unlocked?"