arboreal_priestess | The Freakshow, Baltimore, Monday Evening (Reply)

"Ryan, I require something so horrifically alcoholic that it makes livers tremble with fear and run for their lives when its name is uttered," Verity said solemnly, sidling up to the bar at the Freakshow. "To celebrate leaving for Iceland tomorrow with Liam." Their departure had been delayed first by the manananggal and then by her recovering from being poisoned by said manananggal, but she was feeling better than ever tonight and they'd already scheduled the portal to head out first thing in the morning.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Oooh, a vacation! So, I could make you that, oooor I could get you a martini glass filled with club soda and garnished with something that makes it look like you’re actually drinking liquor for a change. So Liam doesn't have to maneuver a hungover Verity Price through customs."

Verity grinned. "That sounds good. Let's do that."

"Why am I not surprised?" asked Ryan - but he was laughing as he said it, and he kept laughing as he moved to get Verity her drink. "You look a little tired. Have the mice been letting you sleep?"

"I think letting me sleep is against their religion."

"You are their religion."

"And in their cosmology, the gods have no need for silly little things like 'sufficient rest.'" Verity picked up the club soda Ryan set in front of her; tonight's garnish involved a lemon wedge, a chunk of mango, and yes, a little paper umbrella. "Seriously, though, manananggal poisoning is no joke."

Ryan started to answer her, but stopped himself before the first word could form. Straightening to his full height, he fixed his eyes on a point just behind Verity in the crowd, all but glowering. "You have company."

There was only one man in New York City who could get that kind of rise out of Ryan. If it had been Liam, Ryan would have been all smiles, getting another glass of club soda to pass over as soon as he reached the bar. With a sigh, Verity took a deliberate sip of her club soda before removing the paper umbrella from the glass, drying its toothpick handle on the napkin, and sticking it jauntily behind one ear. Then she turned, cocking her head and directing a winsome smile at the man standing there.

"Want a drink?" she asked. "I'm buying." See, Liam? She was too capable of being polite!

"We need to talk," replied Dominic, thus ruining all her effort.

That was the Covenant for you: never using five words when four extremely ominous ones would do. Verity slid off her bar stool, taking one more drink from her club soda before putting it down on the bar. "I'll get my coat," she said, and stalked toward the dressing room door, leaving Dominic De Luca waiting alone in the crowd that clustered around the bar.

She couldn't even get a little peace and quiet in a cryptid-owned burlesque club. What was the world coming to these days?

Kitty	And not even getting her coat could be easy. The Freakshow's new owner, Kitty, showed up just as Verity was shrugging her coat on, looked at her coolly, one eyebrow arched in an almost perfect impression of Verity's younger sister. "Your Covenant boy is here again," she said, voice haughty.
Verity	"Not my boy," Verity said automatically. "Pretty sure he likes Liam better than me anyway." Everyone liked Liam better. No one in this world knew the story of Liam's family, but what they did know was that his family had never been part of the Covenant. Which meant that they hadn't been conditioned to think of him as the most recent in a line of traitors (Covenant) or genocidal maniacs (the local cryptids). "But anyway, that's why I'm leaving. Dominic's probably already heading to meet me up on the roof."
Kitty	"I thought I told you that I didn't want him here." As a bogeyman, Kitty knew how to be menacing.
Verity	And as a Price, Verity wasn't easily menaced. "You did. And I told him. Unfortunately, because I am not actually the boss of the Covenant of St. George, he chose to ignore me. I don't know why he decided to ignore me this time, hence the putting on my coat and going to talk with him." "You need to tell him again. He upsets the dancers." "Uh, no, he doesn't, not really. I mean, Ryan isn't too keen on him, but that's just because he thinks Dominic is going to turn me in to the Covenant and kill everyone who works here. The dragons like him, Istas tolerates him, and even Carol says he's basically okay, for a homicidal maniac."
Kitty	Kitty glowered at her. "He upsets me."
Verity	"That's different." Verity finished buttoning up her coat, removed her backpack from its hook, and turned to face Kitty directly. "Look, I'll talk to him, but you know Dominic. He never makes a phone call when an ominous, Batman-like appearance will do. Unless you want to start posting men with guns on all the doors and windows, he's going to keep showing up." "Like a cockroach," she muttered darkly. "Not the most complimentary comparison ever, but I can't refute it." Verity offered a sympathetic smile. "I understand that the Covenant stresses you out, Kitty. I mean, honestly, the Covenant stresses me out, what with their whole 'line of traitors approach to my family. But as long as Dominic and I are on good terms, I don't think you need to worry about this place getting purged."
Kitty	Kitty didn't look particularly reassured. "And when you're not on good terms anymore?"
Verity	"Then one of us is probably dead." Verity shrugged. "That's the best I can do. Now I'm gonna go talk to him, see why he's trespassing at the Freakshow, and if it's important, I'm gonna come down and share it with you. Which is why you keep me around in the first place, remember?" She flashed Kitty a another quick smile - it wasn't returned - and scooted for the door before she could say else. Verity's mama might have raised a generation of thrill-seeking cryptid-chasers, but she didn't raise no fools.
Dominic	Dominic was waiting on the roof of the club, standing silhouetted against the night sky. Verity bounced up several minutes later, letting the stairway door swing shut behind me with a clang. "S'up?" she asked. "The English language is beautiful, versatile, and capable of poetry that steals men's breath away from them," said Dominic, turning to face her. "Is that really the best you can manage?"
Verity	"Yup," she replied, with a sunny smile. "I went to public school." She took a second to sneak a glance at his profile. Being a cold-blooded killer might not be good for your karma, but man, did it do amazing things for your physique. She was confident Liam would understand.
Dominic	"There are times when I listen to you and feel that the reputation of your family is completely overblown," he said. "What about the rest of the time?" Dominic shook his head as he walked away from the edge of the roof. He stopped in front of Verity, turning to face her. "The rest of the time, I think my elders made a tactical error when they didn't respond to your forefathers' defection by destroying the continent."
Verity	"You say the sweetest things." Verity cocked her head, trying to make out his expression through the gloom. "What's up? You know Kitty doesn't like it when you visit. Something about all the generations of murder."
Dominic	Rather than responding to her teasing, Dominic just frowned further. "Verity..." Dominic hesitated. Then he straightened even further, looking at her solemnly. "I must ask - no, I must beg - that you not become upset until you have heard everything I need to say. It is very important that you understand everything I have come here to tell you, and why this discussion needed to happen immediately. May I have your assurance that you will remain calm?"
Verity	"Dominic, what's going on?" Verity straightened, unconsciously trying to match the seriousness in his stance. "Is everything okay?" "Please. Your assurance." "Yeah, sure. I'm a pretty calm person, you know that."
Dominic	It was a sign of how concerned he was that he didn't even roll his eyes at such a blatant lie. Instead, he continued, "I have become...fond...of you, frustrating and impossible as you are. And Liam, too. He is a true-" there was only a whisper of hesitation "-friend. And I have learned a great deal about the unnatural races with which we share this planet through our association. It's difficult to view them all as monsters when so many of them seem to be genuinely decent individuals, damned solely by the accident of their birth." "I'll be sure to tell Sarah you said so," Verity said dryly. Dominic ignored her. "I do not wish any harm to you, or to the people - and yes, I admit now that they are people - to whom you have introduced me. Please understand that."
Verity	"Dominic?" Verity bit her lip, looking at him warily. "You're starting to freak me out a little bit here."
Dominic	"Good," he said, with surprising fervency. "You should be 'freaked out.' You need to leave, Verity. You need to take your mice, and your cousin, and anything and anyone else you care about in this city, and leave."
Verity	Her eyes widened. "What?" "Get out of here. Please, while you still can." "What the hell are you talking about?" Verity took a step forward, shock fading into anger as she scowled at him. "Stop talking Covenant and start speaking English, or I swear to God, I will start introducing you to my knives."
Dominic	"I've already met most of them," said Dominic, and sighed, shoulders slumping. He reached out one hand, pressing his fingers against her cheek. "Verity, the Covenant is coming. They're coming here. They want to check my work. They want to verify my reports."
Verity	Verity suddenly couldn't breathe. Couldn't blink. Just stared at him, mutely.
Dominic	Dominic nodded very slightly, like the gesture pained him. "They're coming to see how close I am to beginning the purge. Run, Verity. Run now, while you still can. If you're here when they arrive, they'll kill you."
Verity	"What?" Verity snapped. She was once again in his face, looking furious.
Dominic	Dominic, on the other hand, looked genuinely upset. "This wasn't my idea, Verity, you have to believe me. I tried to convince them that there was no reason for them to send a team to check up on me, but my superiors feel that this is too large a territory for me to control on my own. They want to see for themselves that things are going as well as I've claimed."
Verity	"And are they? Going as well as you claimed? How many cryptids do they think you've killed?" Verity couldn't quite keep the edge out of her tone. It wasn't his fault, and she knew it - if Dominic had wanted to sell her out to the Covenant, he would never have warned her that they were on their way. That didn't stop all the old demons from rearing their heads, the ones that said this was always going to be the way things ended. That Covenant boys didn't change what they were just because Price girls are occasionally stupid enough to befriend them, and she'd been a fool for trying to tell herself otherwise.
Dominic	"That's not fair," he said quietly.
Verity	"When are they going to get here?" Verity said, ignoring that. And the expression on his face. "Soon." "Could you be a little more precise? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Should I even bother to run?"
Dominic	"Goddammit, Verity, can you stop being angry with me for one second and just think? I'm not telling you this because I want to gloat! I'm trying to help. I’m trying to give you a chance--!"
Verity	"You can't." Her anger was suddenly gone, replaced by a resignation so deep it felt like it ran all the way down to her bones. "There's no way I can evacuate the entire cryptid population of Baltimore. Even if I wanted to try, they'd have nowhere to go. It would be chaos. And if I can't get them all out, I can't go."
Dominic	"Verity. They're not--" He stopped speaking abruptly.
Verity	So abruptly that for a moment, Verity thought he might have actually bitten his tongue. Somehow, that just made her feel even more resigned. "You were about to say that they weren't worth staying here and maybe getting myself killed over, weren’t you?" He didn't answer. "Come on, Dominic. Tell me that I'm wrong. All I'm asking you to do is look me in the eye and tell me that I'm wrong." "I can't," he said, very quietly. Verity nodded. "I sort of figured that was what you were going to say. Did you really think I could run and leave them all here to die? Did you think I was that much of a coward?"
Dominic	He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. The look on his face was all the answer that Verity needed.
Verity	"I see." Verity took a breath, drawing herself as upright as she could. It helped if she told herself that this was another form of Paso Doble, the only form of Latin dance whose competitive form was as much a battle as anything else. "Thank you for the warning. I'll take it from here."
Dominic	Dominic's eyes widened in visible alarm. "Verity, please. Don't do anything rash."
Verity	"I'm a Price girl, remember? We specialize in rash, with the occasional side order of outright stupid." She straightened a further, till her spine hurt. "I think you'd better go." "I wish you wouldn't be like this." "If wishes were horses, we'd have a way easier time feeding the chupacabras. Now please. Go."
Dominic	"Very well," he said finally. He walked back to the edge of the roof, shoulders ramrod-straight beneath that damn pretentious duster he was so fond of. He only looked back once, dark brown eyes pained above a mouth that was set as firmly as his shoulders. Then he stepped off the roof onto the fire escape, and he was gone, leaving her alone.