The washroom attendant struck a match and held it in place for Roman to light up one of his Woodbines.  Putting away his failed lighter, an ornate gold thing temperamental of late, Roman thanked the man with a nod as he inhaled the heady, heavy smoke.  In glancing at himself in the gilded mirror before him - the handsome if gaunt features peering back at him imperiously - Roman caught through the cloud of blue-gray smoke the attendant's distinct lack of reflection.  He said nothing, for although it was decidedly unusual to see a<span style="font-style: italic">draugr</span>in such mundane employ as a bathroom valet, it was far better an option than leaving it to the streets where its simple revenant brain would soon decay, turning the<span style="font-style: italic">draugr</span>into naught but a bloodlusting beast.  Here at least it could be monitored, disposed of and replaced.  Still, the fact that the creature was able to function so humanly bespoke its masters' extensive psionic influence.  Here at the Palace, even the Druid John Roman was but a man among his peers.<br/><br/>In New York City as in most every other city in America during Prohibition, one could find speakeasies, honky-tonks and juke joints that catered to the wilder tastes of its patrons in closeted disregard of the law.  Only in New York City, however, could one find the Sheik and Sheba Palace, an opulent estate that had existed for centuries as a haven and bastion for all supernatural beings.  In its current iteration the Palace took the aspect of an Art Deco building, all terracotta facade and stone columns at the first floors that gave way to grand spires reaching skyward.  Inside, the Palace was host to an impossibly large ballroom, the domed ceiling glittered with elaborate scenes lifted from Greek and Egyptian frescoes.  Although Roman had only been a handful of times, the Palace seemed to be in a perpetual state of high exuberance and whimsy, like a forever-cresting wave or the spiritual ecstasy of nirvana.<br/><br/>Steering his way through a crowd of screaming, dancing partiers - the big band before them was reaching the climax of their booming song - Roman sought the relative peace and solitude of an adjoining barroom.  Here the cacophony lost its fervent, squealing pitch - the orgiastic crowd's celebrations took on an incessant droning<span style="font-style: italic">thrum</span>, like a fevered heartbeat.  Sidling up at the bar beside two necking lovebirds who seemed to require no air, Roman signaled for the bartender's attention.<br/><br/>"Is Johnnie in tonight?" he asked at the man's approach.  The bartender jerked his head in a general direction to Roman's right, where open doors led to an adjoining room for further seclusion still.  "Two Champagne Cocktails," the druid ordered, occasionally glancing to his right while waiting for the drinks' preparation.  He didn't know this Johnnie by sight, only by reputation.<span style="font-style: italic">The Temptress</span>.  Having little affection for her kind, but driven by a need that only she could provide for, Roman wasn't particularly eager for this meeting.  Succubae were notoriously perceptive and exploitative at the best of times, and here in the Palace he wouldn't even be able to don the druid's mantle - taking on the aspect of the druid would protect him from any wiles a succubus might bring to bear on him, but doing so might rouse the ire of the Palace's patrons.  Although the druid was a force not of 'Good' but of balance, Roman as its agent had upset the schemes of many of the more powerful entities here, not least of whom were the masters of the Palace itself.<br/><br/>Drinks in hand, Roman made his way to anteroom, where the crowd was much smaller and more sedate than elsewhere in the Palace, although still buzzing with gaiety.  A haze of smoke drifted before his eyes, obscuring his view as he found a seat and an empty circular booth table.  Lighting another cigarette, he took a small sip from the bowled champagne glass and cast his gaze about the room, searching among its occupants for the temptress.