arboreal_priestess | A Club in Verity's Baltimore, Friday Night (Reply)

Music pumped through the club's speakers, distorted until it was barely more than a pounding bass line with a sprinkling of grace notes. It was perfect dance music, the kind that made feet tap and thighs twitch with the need to get up and move. Verity's own feet were tapping and, for the third time, she forced them to stop. There’d be time for that soon enough, but for the moment, waiting was still the name of the game.

Verity	Verity leaned back in her seat, a large half-circle booth that remained empty except for the three of them. Such a thing would normally be an impossibility in a crowded club like this, but with Sarah's telepathy, an empty booth was among the least of the things she could achieve. Trying to look casual, she sipped her nonalcoholic 'Cosmopolitan'—club soda, grenadine, and a maraschino cherry for that finishing touch—and scanned the dance floor. There were worse ways to hunt for a cryptid serial killer on the loose in Baltimore, even if Sarah was quietly hating every minute of it.
Sarah	"So, Verity, tell me, are you looking for our nasty friend, or are you sizing up the competition?" Sarah’s tone was mild, but there was a warning lurking underneath the question, audible even under the throbbing music.
Verity	"Right, right," Verity replied, dragging her eyes away from the floor. Her foot stopped keeping time under the table a moment later. Again. "This is just a really good song and--you know what, never mind. Sorry."
Sarah	"Aren’t you always?" Sarah turned and gave Liam an ironic look. She sat in the center of the booth, partially so she could lounge nonchalantly against the burgundy vinyl cushions, and partially so she wouldn't be in the way if Verity needed to move suddenly. Her choice of seating had the added bonus of keeping the crowd at a distance, since the full length of the table was between her and the rest of the club. "Welcome to stakeouts with Verity at the club. She supposedly looks for bad guys. I actually try to look for bad guys in between reminding her that we're not just here for her to dance."
Liam	Liam was hardly about to throw stones. While Verity had been distracted by the actual music, Sarah's telepathy was pinging against his psychic awareness, a familiar symphony transposed into an unfamiliar key. That being said, Sarah had a point. "'Just' being the key word, of course," Liam said. "But hey, maybe if we take care of this... ghoul?... quickly enough, there'll be time for actual fun instead of just pretend fun."
Verity	"See?" Verity said, pointing at Liam. "He knows what's up. We've even got a plan!" Sure, the plan was 'find something Verity could hit', but that was still a plan! She fished the cherry out of her drink and popped it into her mouth, sneaking another glance at the dance floor. Mmm, food coloring and sugar. “We just have to wait for this ghoul to show. His patterns--or hers--have been regular up to now, and this is the next stop on the circuit."
Sarah	"Well, I don't know how much help I’m going to be," Sarah said, frowning again at the crowd of people. "Ghoul minds are hard to tell from human minds under the best of circumstances. With this many drunk, horny people in one place, I’d be lucky to spot another cuckoo, much less a ghoul." She leaned across Verity to look at Liam again. "What about you? Your brain is tickly enough to be a telepath. What are you picking up?"
Verity	"I didn't tell her anything," Verity mumbled to Liam. "Didn't even think it so she wouldn't pick it up from stray thoughts."
Liam	"It's fine," Liam assured her. "You trust her, and it probably would've come up sooner or later anyway. My mental processes are... different, than yours." To Sarah, he added: "I'm not a telepath, exactly. I might get a warning once this ghoul decides to attack and someone's life is about to be in danger, but that's about it."
Sarah	"You feel like trigonometry," Sarah told him. "Verity and other humans are algebra. Some of them are advanced algebra, sure, but still algebra." "Hey!" Sarah ignored Verity's indignant outburst. It was more for effect than anything else. "I'm calculus. You fall somewhere in the middle--same but different. Human but not. It's interesting."
Liam	"That makes sense, in a way," Liam said with a nod. "I'm a hybrid; two human parents, one alien."
Sarah	"Fascinating," Sarah said, actually making eye contact with Liam for the first time. She tended not to do that with strangers, it made the telepathy stronger, as did touch. "I knew Very was hiding something about you. She always switched to thinking about footwork when I'd ask about you. But I thought she just didn't want me knowing about your sex life."
Verity	Verity nearly choked on her cherry. "Dammit, Sarah," she said, coughing. "Play nice." Sarah was also getting an earful mentally. You keep being a brat, I'm going to start thinking about it anytime I'm within a quarter mile of you. There are lights. And clouds. Their sex life--such as it was, as it hadn't really involved sex yet--was weird. Aliens, yo.
Sarah	Sarah snorted. I don't even want to know what you kinky weirdos get up to. "I am being nice," she said aloud. "I'm here, helping you find a serial killer instead of working on my math homework." She looked at Liam again. "Verity said you liked math?"
Liam	Liam was just going to give the two of them a look. You didn't even have to be psychically sensitive to know there was obviously some nonverbal communication going on there. "The practical applications of multidimensional math, specifically," Liam said. "Useful when piloting through interdimensional space." And when solving puzzles left by ancient aliens millions of years ago, but no use getting in to that right now.
Verity	"Okay, if you two are going to talk high-level math, I'm going out to do some recon on the floor," Verity declared, nudging Sarah so she could slip by her out of the booth. "I mean, if the ghoul is here, that's where they'll be anyway."
Sarah	Sarah rolled her eyes, obviously Not Buying It, but saying so would violate telepathic ethics. She and Grandma Baker, Sarah's adopted mother, had cobbled their own ethics together from Y-People and old Bab-4 episodes. She raised her eyebrow again before sighing and waving toward the floor. “Go. You’ll feel better. I’ll toss up a flare if I pick up on him.”
Verity	"Thanks!" Verity said, beaming. "You're the best!" She shimmied out of the booth and tugged her miniskirt down the few scant inches it could go when she was standing back up. Not out of any innate sense of modesty--hard to keep any of that when one was a professional dancer--but so that no one would see the holster strapped to her inner thigh. Which was also why her skirt hit mid-thigh, which, for this kind of club, was almost shameful prudishness. She made up for it with a blood-red velvet bustier that looked appropriately scandalous--and better yet, had steel corsetry boning and gave her room for five strategically placed throwing knives. Between those, the steel tips on her incredibly high heels, and the perfume bottle of holy water in her purse, Verity was loaded for bear. More accurately, she was loaded for ghoul. This one was hunting in midtown, which was a big no-no, and had killed fifteen girls that she knew of. There were probably more that she’d managed to miss, even with Sarah's help. Not okay. "Did you wanna hit the floor with me?" Verity asked her date with a grin. "I'll understand if the allure of math keeps you here, though."
Liam	"And miss a chance to see you in action?" Liam said, getting up and making to follow. "Never." No offense, Sarah. There'd be plenty of times to talk eight-dimensional math later. You know, when he wasn't about to witness his girlfriend destroy some egos of the other dancers on the floor, followed by some actual ghoul destruction.
Verity	That miiiight have been the reason Verity had asked him to come out with her. She liked the idea of him getting to see her at 'work' as it were. She wouldn't ask him to come sit in silence for several hours during a tango cattle call, but this? This she figured he could appreciate. "So," she called, a little louder now that they were on the floor with the full measure of the music on their ears, "You ready to put these past few months worth of dancing in my living room into practice?"
Liam	"I think so," Liam nodded. Of course, that was easier said than done; this wasn't Verity's living room, or even a dance at the high school.
Verity	"So, that's a no," Verity said with a laugh. "All right, let's get you comfortable, huh?" She reached for him--not his hands, but his hips. "Remember, the secret of good club music is the downbeat. Even the world’s worst dancer can’t help picking up a little rhythm when the bass is pumped high enough. And I know you can move your hips to a rhythm when you wanna." She gave him a sassy wink, then picked up the tempo with her own hips, trusting him to follow. "Keep your center of gravity still, and keep your body relaxed. You can't dance if your whole body is tight." Yeah, this was different than them dancing in her living room, but the music, the movement, the beat, that was all the same. That's what he needed to trust in.
Liam	"Downbeat, hips, got it," Liam echoed. Give him a moment to manage the 'keep your body relaxed' part; crowds still put him in Protector-mode, even two years later.
Verity	"And if you're ever unsure what to do with your hands, just put them on me," Verity said with an inviting smile. They worked their way past the first tiers of dancers--the ones too drunk, too disinterested, or too interested in looking for a different kind of 'dance' to defend their places in the center of the floor--and Verity gave herself over to the beat, letting it tell her body where to go. It didn't matter that they was there because something was killing club kids in what was currently her city. It didn't matter that her clothes were Scotchgarded against bloodstains, not sweat. It didn't even matter that all of her formal training was in the ballroom styles. She was dancing. Everything was going to be okay. "Keep your eyes locked on their mouths," Verity called, dancing her way deeper into the crowd. "Their teeth'll either be capped and artificially perfect, or so wrecked they'll be keeping their mouths closed tight."
Liam	Scanning the crowd for potential threats? That part he could do easily. That Verity managed it while looking like all she was here to do was dance was impressive. Liam followed along, his own attempts at dancing becoming gradually more natural-looking as they made their way through the crowd.
Verity	The natural pulse of a good dance floor means the best dancers wind up getting pulled toward the center, sucked inexorably forward as they pass through the ranks of the less invested and the less skilled. As Liam found his groove, they were able to move towards the center of the floor. Verity had a hunch that the ghoul they were looking for would be here, in the center of it all. If they'd just been looking for easy pickings, any bar would work. No, to choose a club, the ghoul was looking for dinner and a show. They wound up packed into the place where the circles of dancers compressed to nearly nothing, sharing that coveted spot with three other couples, two single women, and a man about their age who seemed to be comfortable dancing by himself while he sized up his options. "We may need to split up," Verity called into his ear, trusting the noise from the crowd and the music to keep them from being overheard. The only thing special about ghoul physiology was their diet; advanced hearing wasn't in their repertoire. "If we can't spot 'em just by looking."
Liam	Liam nodded, arching a brow and tilting his head over at the single guy in a clear what-about-him gesture. From the angle Liam had, he couldn't get a look at the guy's teeth, but he figured it merited a closer investigation.
Verity	Verity agreed, nodding at one of the single women for him to check out at the same time. With a reassuring you can do this! smile, she danced away from him, hitting the circle proper and giving the guy Liam had indicated a once-over. Single white male seeks single female for...what, exactly? She gave him a once-over as he moved toward her, disguising the look with a flirtatious wink. All his clothes were dark, and the fabrics looked naturally stain-resistant. No scars, no tattoos, no jewelry; good-looking in that generic movie extra sort of way. The kind of guy you'd happily dance with for a little while, maybe even follow home if you were in the mood for something heavier than a little grinding. Question was, was he a literal lady-killer?
Liam	Liam watched her go for a moment, and then turned back to the other dancers, making sure to keep Verity in his peripheral vision even as he moved closer to one of the women who was there by herself. "Relax and groove," he mumbled to himself under his breath. "Sure."
Female Clubber	The woman he was making his way towards noticed him, her arms above her head, hips swaying to the beat. She watched his moves for a moment, silently debating whether or not she wanted to dance, and then gave him a little nod, her movement becoming more expansive and inviting.
Liam	Liam sidled over to her, periodically scanning the rest of the dance floor and keeping his body angled so that he could continue to watch Verity without making it obvious to his now-partner that that's what he was doing.
Verity	The guy Verity was dancing with had closed in like a heat-seeking missile, cupping her hips with his hands as he matched her rhythm. She looked at him more carefully as they writhed around the center circle together, and frowned. His teeth were white, slightly crooked in an adorable way, and normal. He couldn't be their ghoul. Human flesh was tough to chew, and ghouls who took their dinner straight off the bone inevitably did a number on their chompers. If her dance partner had been a ghoul passing for human, he would have either had perfect, dentist-purchased caps or been keeping his lips shut. She let her body go back on autopilot, scanning the crowd around them. She took a moment to judge the dancing ability of Liam's partner--pretty good, couldn't hold a candle to her own--and winked at Liam when she caught his eye. And over his shoulder, one of the couples that had been in the center with them started to head off the floor, the woman laughing, the man giving a tight-lipped smile that completely hid his teeth. Oh shit.
Liam	Liam's answering grin lasted only a moment, disappearing as soon as he saw the change in Verity's expression. Shimmying slightly to the side, he managed to turn just in time to catch sight of the couple leaving the floor. 'Oh shit' indeed. "Come on, I love this song!" his dance partner exulted. His dance partner that he'd just turned his back on. Shouldn't have done that, Kincaid.
Bad News	For one thing, he missed the smile she flashed, teeth all perfect and pearly white in a way that could never be found in nature. "Hey, let's dance!" she said. "...Unless you wanna get out of here."
Liam	Liam didn't respond, biting back a slight growl of frustration as another dancer moved into the line of sight he had on Verity. Giving up all pretense of dancing, he started to head in the same direction of the couple she had spotted. It wasn't that he thought Verity wouldn't be able to handle the situation without him- this was her family business, after all. She knew what she was doing. But he was supposed to be here as backup, which meant, well. Being within shouting distance, at the very least.
Verity	Verity finished pushing her way off the dance floor and stopped to scan the club, searching for her quarry. She finally spotted them by the front door, him helping her into her coat, her grinning ear to ear. Such a gentleman. Only once he got her outside and alone, all those good manners would go right out the window. There was an alley on the other side of the club; the bodies of the previous victims had all been found in similar places nearby the clubs they'd vanished from. They were going out the front--if Verity could get out the back, she'd be able to beat them there and stop the ghoul before he had a chance to start dinner. She caught Liam's eye and jerked her thumb towards the front door. If he went that way, they'd had the ghoul surrounded. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl he'd been dancing with glaring after him with a scowl. Looks like he needed a few lessons in creative excuses to not rile the locals. Her own overloud Oopsie. I think I drank too many martinis. I need to go puke! had given her plenty of room to leave the floor as her partner and everyone else in hearing distance had recoiled out of potential spatter distance.
Liam	You'd think someone who spent the first three years of his life as an undercover agent would be better at subterfuge, but nope. Liam headed out the front door, drawing his sidearm from the holster hidden under his jacket as soon as he was out of sight of the bouncer and moving in to the alleyway.
Verity	The alley was cleaner than most of the ones Verity generally found herself in, which she appreciated. It also gave her a good vantage point of the entrance, where the ghoul had stopped to chat with his prey. That was smart. Get her laughing, get her relaxed, and odds were she wouldn't even notice he was leading her down a one-way route. Verity quietly made her way towards the entrance, the music pounding through the walls loud enough to mask the sound of her moving. Once she got close enough, she straightened and left all stealth behind, literally stomping the last few steps towards them. "There you are, you pig!" she shouted, leveling a finger at his chest. "Sarah told me she saw you here, but I thought she was just fucking around with me. How dare you?!" The ghoul stared at her with gratifying surprise. His nightly order of club kid takeout, on the other hand, stepped away from him like he'd been set on fire. That wasn't a bad idea. Too bad Verity didn't have any matches. "You have a girlfriend?" she demanded, glaring at the ghoul. "Girlfriend?" Verity echoed, planting her hands on her hips. "Honey, he’s married."
Snack Attack	That was all it took. "You asshole," the girl said witheringly, and slapped the ghoul hard across the face before turning to stalk away, all drunken indignation. She'd be back on the dance floor within ten minutes, hunting for a guy who wasn't cheating on someone. The ghoul watched her go, his shocked expression transforming slowly into anger. He swung his head around to face Verity, eyes narrowed. "You just made a big mistake, little girl. I wasn't in the mood for blonde tonight."
Verity	"Aw, too bad for you," Verity simpered, tucking her hands behind her in a cutesy-pie gesture that concealed the act of drawing the knives from the back panel of her bustier. She glanced over his shoulder at Liam, giving him a little shake of her head to tell him to stay out of it for now. "See, this is how things are going to work tonight. I'm going to tell you to get out of town, just as fast as you can, and you're going to agree with me. Won’t that be fun?"
Needs A Better Dental Plan	"I have a better idea," said the ghoul, and grinned. It was a horrible sight. Most of his teeth were blackened and broken, some all the way down to the gum line. He'd grow a new set in pretty short order—ghouls were like sharks, they were constantly teething—but for the moment, he was basically gumming his victims to death. Not a good way to go. "I'm going to make sure there’s not enough of your body left for your family to identify."
Verity	"I bet you say that to all the girls." Not the most original line in the world, but originality was secondary to not getting eaten when Verity was in the field. She pulled her hands from behind her back and fell into a relaxed starting position, knives ready for throwing. "Come on, big guy. Let's dance." A flicker of consternation crossed the ghoul's face as he took in her reaction. Then it faded, and he lunged. One would think the predators of the world would eventually learn that it wasn't a good idea to charge the sort of person who brings throwing knives to a dance club. Her first knife caught him in the forearm while he was in mid-lunge. Her second killed what little was left of his forward momentum when it hit the inside of his leg, just above his left knee.
In Over His Head	The ghoul went down hard. Ghouls were badass hunters when all they were dealing with was drunk, unarmed party girls, but they were no match for somebody who knew what she was doing. He was still trying to decide whether he wanted to clutch his knee, his arm, or both when Verity delivered a hard kick to his ribs, rolling him onto his back. She promptly placed one foot on his throat, keeping him still, and the ghoul promptly started trying to learn how to breathe without accidentally impaling his throat on her incredibly sharp heel.
Liam	It was plain to see that Verity had the situation well in hand, so at her headshake, Liam backed up, staying out of the ghoul's sight. Unfortunately, as Liam was about to find out, Verity's sparring partner wasn't the only ghoul who'd been out on the hunt tonight.
Told You She Was Bad News	"You know, I'd hoped to see you again," came a sharp voice from behind him. "But having you already in an alley is too good to be true." The girl from the dance floor was standing just a few feet away, her perfect teeth on display as she grinned at Liam. It was not a nice grin.
Liam	... Well, shit. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not on the menu tonight," Liam informed her.
Hangry	"Maybe not for dancing, but I can think of a couple of other things. Her eyes flicked past Liam to where Verity was still tangling with the ghoul who remained down but was too stupid to give up. "Playing do-gooder?" she sneered. "Interrupted my brother's meal?" And then launched herself at him.
Liam	Verity had made sure to impress upon Liam that lethal force was the last resort, so just straight up shooting her with his beam pistol as she came at him wasn't an option. He moved to intercept her instead, reaching out to grab hold of her arm.
Chomp Chomp!	The problem with being a Price--okay, one of the many, many problems--was that their association with the Covenant might have ended generations ago, but cryptids had very long memories. And so they had incredibly strict rules about who and when they killed, because every cryptid dead by their hand--no matter the reason--still brought up the specter of the Covenant. So as much as Verity would like to shoot the ghoul and his sister both, serial killers with at least four kills under their belts, they were stuck doing this the hard way. There was an upside, though. Apart from their teeth and their diet, ghouls were pretty close to human. Which meant that Liam didn't have to worry about superhuman strength or speed or venom when he grabbed onto the ghoul's arm. Though the teeth she used to try to bite through his grip might have been alarming in their own way.
Liam	"Like I said, not for eating," Liam said firmly, moving to twist the ghoul's arm behind her back and turn her so that they were no longer face-to-face.
Should've Stayed Home	The ghoul hissed at him, trying to drive an elbow into his gut even as he slowly pushed her down to her knees with strength alone. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" she snarled.
Verity	"God, I love it when they ask," Verity said, watching the ease with which Liam had outmaneuvered the ghoul chick. She wasn't much more of an opponent than her brother was, but still...competence was hot. "Hi," she continued, pulling the gun from her thigh holster and aiming it at the ghoul's face. He immediately stopped struggling and so did his sister. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Verity, and you're leaving."
Not Having A Good Night	"What are you, Covenant?" the ghoul snarled beneath her foot.
Verity	"Worse," Verity said, pressing her weight down a bit harder on his chest. He moaned as her steel-tipped heel bit into his skin. "I'm a Price. You're interfering with my ecosystem. Two choices, buddy. Out of the city and off the humanitarian diet, or down into the sewers to feed the mole people." She glanced over at the other woman. "You too, same choice. What's your preference?" Naturally, they chose to live another day, swearing they'd never touch living human flesh again. Her family had never tangled with either of them before, so the family code said Verity had to let them off with a stern warning. If the Prices or any of their affiliated friends heard about them so much as thinking the words 'long pork' ever again, they'd come down on them so hard they'd barely have time to shit themselves before they shuffled off this mortal coil. Which she told them. In even more graphic detail. "I'm feeling generous, and you didn't actually manage to bleed on me," she finished. "You have forty-eight hours to get out of Baltimore entirely. Or we are coming after you. And we don't play nice."
Liam	Liam watched the ghoul siblings as they scrambled out of the alleyway. "So, I don't have much of a frame of reference for this sort of thing, but that seemed to go pretty well?" he said, turning to Verity.
Verity	"...Yeah, actually, it did," Verity said, looking up at him in relief. "I wish there was more we could do to them, but..." Four dead girls weighed heavily on her conscience. "Sarah got their names," she added. "Sifted through their surface thoughts a bit. So tomorrow I can go to some of the ghoul communities and let them know what their erstwhile children got up to. They'll probably take steps." Ghouls had a funny way of looking at murder, but endangering the community by being greedy and careless? That usually got a response. And now the ghouls of Baltimore would know that a Price was here and keeping a close eye on them. They wouldn't appreciate that, even the ones who weren't murdering innocent club girls. Namely, all of them. "But hey, we finished that pretty fast, huh? We make a decent team."
Liam	"We really do," Liam agreed. "And as awful as the circumstances were that got us here, I have to say, seeing you in action..." he trailed off. "'Impressive' doesn't quite cover it. Now, did we want to meet back up with Sarah and finish those drinks, or are we calling it a night?"
Verity	Adrenaline thrummed through Verity's veins, her pulse throbbed and heart raced. Trying to do anything now but work it out would leave her keyed up and jittery for days. "I'm not ready to turn in yet, are you?" she asked, giving him a cocky smile. "There's a whole dance floor waiting for us." And sure, maybe a different kind of tango would suit her mood better, but this was Verity. She'd never turn down the opportunity to dance. She slid her knives back into the hidden sheaths in her corset and he gun back into her thigh holster before holding out her hand to Liam. "Wanna escort me out on the floor?"
Liam	"That's what I hoped you'd say," Liam replied, taking her hand and turning back towards the club entrance. "Let's go dance."