The Coven was alive that evening. That is, it was as alive as a nightclub full of vampires could have been.<br/><br/>Lydia inhaled to catch the soothing whiff of familiar scents - a hint of wine, a hint of rose, a hint of leather - as she stepped through the doors of the lobby, held open for her by two bouncers. Like all of her staff, the two men were perfect models of vampiric beauty. Tall, square-jawed, broad-shouldered, red-eyed, and pale, absent from their faces was any ounce of warmth. "Welcome back, Madame." They spoke in unison, the two of them, standing in their black-and-red suits with one arm behind their backs and the other stretched out in invitation. Lydia pulled back the hood of her cloak, a dark, elegant item trimmed with fur, and followed the action by pulling off her gloves, dangling them for the guard to take them.<br/><br/>She tossed an idle "Thank you" at the men as they disappeared behind the closed doors before scanning the room. Directly to her right was the bar, where a blonde woman was busy filling glasses with thick, red liquid, and to the other side was a large lounge area, home to a stage where a live band was playing a slow, sultry tune. In the corner of the room, there were two sets of stairs; one leading up and the other leading to the basement, a floor the patrons lovingly nicknamed, "The Dungeon."<br/><br/>A faint smile adorned her face, and she exhaled deeply, closing her eyes. Every time she walked into the place, she reminded herself how good it felt to know that this was<i>hers</i>. Every single inch. There, on the first floor of The Coven, humans and vampires mingled, talking and drinking, swaying to the music and whispering to one another. One might think that humans would want to avoid vampires at all costs, but that was far from the truth. Quite often, Lydia knew, mortals were dreadfully curious. They wanted to know what her kind was really like. Normally, with all the secrecy, the sneaking, and the trickery that were commonly attached to vampires in Onyxport, they felt too threatened to approach vampires. However, The Coven provided them with the opportunity. It didn't come without benefits for Lydia's kind - she wasn't there to run a petting zoo - as more than a few humans were willing to share a little blood to share a kiss with a vampire. Vampires could be alluring like that.<br/><br/>Although she could've, Lydia was there to do more than revel in her status, so she made her way to the stairs, paying no mind to the eyes that followed her as she walked through the room. In fact, the business to which she was required to attend that night was more of a bother than anything, and any hint of her smile had disappeared. On the second floor, which was restricted to vampire use alone, Lydia walked through the hallway, rounded the corner, and entered her office to find that the man she was meeting had already arrived and was sitting in the leather chair across from hers. There was a glass of wine in his hand, and another one waiting for her on the other side of her desk.<br/><br/>"Hello, Adrian." She shut the door, walked around her desk, and sat, one leg poised elegantly over the other. "I see you have a habit of coming too soon," she teased dryly.<br/><br/>"How charming, Lydia," he deadpanned back, his eyes rolling before he sipped from his glass. The man leaned back into the cushion, running his long fingers through his short, blond hair. The glow in his eyes provided a sharp contrast to his pale skin, the brightness of the red color indicating that he had just fed a few minutes ago. "You know I'm as eager as you are to get this over with."<br/><br/>"Mm, yes." Lydia sighed. "Get on with it, then. What do you want?"<br/><br/>Lydia knew that that Adrian would only show his face around the Night Quarter if he wanted something or needed something. She also knew that<i>he</i>knew she wouldn't be willing to do anything for him out of the kindness of her heart, so his visit meant that there was something going on that involved her good image. That was a fail-safe way to solicit favors from her - to appeal to her ego.<br/><br/>"It's not about what<i>I </i>want, darling, it's about what<i>we</i>want."<br/><br/>"If you think I care what Carpe Noctem wants, you're a fool."<br/><br/>"No, no, not Carpe Noctem-," he leaned forward, "I mean the two of us."<br/><br/>"What could possibly be of mutual interest to the two of us, Adrian?" Her annoyance with the situation was present in her voice. "Our methods are a bit polar, don't you think?"<br/><br/>Adrian Blackwell was the current head of Carpe Noctem, the...less desirable clan in the Night Quarter. Or, at least, that was the way Lydia viewed it. She separated from them for good reason; Lydia enjoyed her fair share of playing cat-and-mouse with her prey, but Carpe Noctem made vampires look like classless butchers. There were still plenty who disagreed with Lydia's ideas, who disliked the restrictions she placed on her clan members, and frankly, she wanted nothing to do with them.<br/><br/>"I'll tell you what." He paused to take another sip. "Someone has been leaving bodies behind around the city lately."<br/><br/>"Tell me something I don't know. Your swine leave bodies behind left and right."<br/><br/>Adrian chuckled. "Carpe Noctem is much different now than it used to be, whether you want to believe it or not. But that's not my point -- point is, these are vampire kills, but they're not from<i>my </i>vampires. And I doubt they're from<i>yours</i>, either. I've assigned two of my subordinates to clear the corpses before any Enforcers could find them, but who knows how long it'll be before they catch on? We have an outlier on our hands, and nobody has been able to track him."<br/><br/>"Oh, perfect," she breathed. "So you want me to track him for you?"<br/><br/>"Not for me - for both of us. For vampirekind. For that...precious little reputation of yours." There it was.<br/><br/>Lydia scoffed. "Tough luck. This is the first I'm hearing about this little corpse problem. Seems like it's your problem, not mine."<br/><br/>Adrian chuckled again, raising his hands in mock defeat as he stood. "Well, then, when the Enforcers come knocking on your door and pointing fingers, don't say I didn't warn you, darling." He made his way to the door, but turned back to face her to make one last comment before he left. "Oh, and when you need my help, you know where I am. I expect you to ask nicely. Au revoir."<br/><br/>"Oh, how I hate that bastard," she muttered as he left, positive that his ears picked it up. It was just her luck that he would come by with issues when things were going so smoothly for her. She could only hope that he was as full of shit as she thought he was, because this mystery killer could spell the decline of her precious club.