you're no angel either, baby

“Iri,” Izzy repeated, thinking it over. “Maybe.” She would make a decision later, when she wasn’t buzzed. It was clear the human was interested in the snake, but Izzy was a bit possessive. He could pet the creature, but she wouldn’t let the slave hold him. She shrugged at his question. “I guess not. I started with a bearded dragon, then I got a snake, and now I have two. It’s like tattoos, once you get one, you can’t really stop.”

“Fuck.” Angel couldn’t help but laugh at the other’s nonchalance, “Taking care of three pets and you have tattoos? I’m starting to think you’re a masochist.” It was mostly a joke, seeing how it wasn’t like Angel was much of a saint either. Still, damn near every vampire he met these days was into pain, although they were usually far more interested to inflict it on him than themselves.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be covered head to toe in tattoos.” Angel could remember the days when their chosen family members would come home with a new tattoo, the collective joy they felt at the prospect of reclaiming their own skin one day. Since losing his family, he’d been far too busy staying out of trouble to actually consider getting them but maybe running into this tatted snake woman was exactly what he needed tonight. “Know anywhere I could get one for cheap?” 

“I’m still pretty new, yeah. And kind of unforgettable when I smell shit, probably – so I doubt it’s a lack of animal shit.” Colt laughed softly, taking the hand offered to him and shaking it. Angel. Jesus, he bet the other got some fucking cheesy lines about that. Not that he didn’t get occasional comments about his own name. “I’m Colt.” 

He let himself get pulled down the alley, not really caring about the hustle when he was getting a nicotine hit. Colt decided not to tell him that getting caught had its merits – although it was better he didn’t do that until he was smoking the last one in the packet. Colt laughed softly as the arm moved to his shoulder, quirking one eyebrow at them, “Oh and I’m sharing now huh?” 

Taking another drag on the cigarette, he supposed he really should pay forward the kindness Reina had done him when she gave him one of hers. As much as he hated parting with any of them. Maybe Babette would feel inclined to rent him again and slip him another packet, given that he knew how to keep his mouth shut.

“Lucky for you, I’m feeling generous.” Another cigarette seemed to appear out of no where and given their current close proximity, he held it right up to Angel’s lips. “Don’t go forgetting that when you manage to land some cigarettes of your own.” Not that he said it with any real demand in the tone. He didn’t care about shaking someone down for cigarettes after all.

“Duh.” Angel practically cooed their response, playful smile morphing into something more genuine as the butt end of a fresh cigarette was suddenly brushing against their bottom lip. He hadn’t actually expected the obnoxious line to work on Colt which only made his victory all the sweeter as he slowly wrapped his lips around the prize. 

Angel felt a sudden rush of adrenaline as they moved their hand from Colt’s shoulder to the side of his neck, holding him still as they pressed the unlit side of their cigarette to his lit one. They had to remain intimately close to one another while the cigarette took flame but it was only a matter of moments before Angel was pulling back and exhaling both laughter and smoke. “Thanks.” Though their cigarette had successfully lit, Angel kept their freezing fingers pressed to the warmth of the other’s neck, inhaling the nicotine once more with the same giddy grin they’d been sporting since they got one. “I won’t forget, man. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. ” 

“Who says I’m a noble or pureblood?” The vampire wondered, because whilst yes his father might well have been a noble- his mother certainly hadn’t been and it had greatly cancelled him out to a mere civilian. “Yeah, you get hand me downs. What even are those…” He said gesturing to the humans shoes with his nose wrinkle of disgust. “Hey, I don’t run things so you must have some use to someone or whatever, I don’t really care- humans are always boring anyway so I steer clear of that whole shit show, piss off a Bloodknight or something if you want to end that existence? Then your crappy shoes can be passed onto another?”

Angel merely shrugged and scoffed at the other’s question, biting their tongue to refrain from telling them how little they actually cared about the vampire, let alone his lineage. They were all more privileged than him— every last one of them. And that made them all his enemy. “They’re fucked is what they are.” Angel hissed, looking down at the hand-me-down shoes in anger and agreement, “barely keep my fucking toes from freezing.” Now Angel was just complaining for the hell of it, but it truthfully didn’t make it feel any less satisfying. “Thanks for nothing, man. I hope your whole ‘steering clear of humans' plan serves you well. Share it with some of your friends, why don’t you?” 

“Relax.” Colt said with a soft laugh, “You volunteer sometimes at Off the Chain, right? I think I’ve seen you there. You’ve probably seen me in an ugly jumpsuit smelling like I’ve just been cleaning up after a bunch of animals. I’m Colt.” 

He carefully slid free one of his coveted cigarettes – having been very careful not to get them taken off him – and then a match to light it with. As always, he took a deep breath of nicotine and let it out slowly, shoulders relaxing with his bad habit. “You’ve been around for a while then?” Colt hadn’t really been around for that long himself, though he kept his eyes open to learn about any information going.

Angel certainly wouldn’t describe themselves as an altruistic person but they could never resist the charms of a helpless animal, even outside the city walls. It was the human in him. So, volunteering at Off the Chain wasn’t exactly a secret, but Angel still felt their cheeks heat up at the other’s recognition of him, releasing a soft chuckle at the man’s self-deprecating humor. “Not sure if I can say the same about seeing you around. You must be new, Colt. That, or... it could just be the lack of animal shit fucking with my memory.” Another playful laugh and Angel outstretched his hand to shake the other’s. “I’m Angel.” 

Their eyes lit up at the sight of Colt’s cigarettes, urgently pulling him further into the alley and away from the main street as he exhaled the smoke downwind. “Been around long enough to know you better be a little more discreet with those or else you’ll get caught.” Angel dropped his arm to the other’s shoulder, both serious and playful when they spoke again. “And if you get caught, you can’t share them with me. And what a waste that would be, man.” 

Charlie let out a little yelp as he tugged her back before she huffed out a breath and reached over to swat at him, “Then maybe you should be nicer right off the bat.” Which was hypocritical bullshit coming from her- but they both knew that. She handed over the flask, rolling her eyes again as he kissed her head but she still gave him a little smile, “And don’t you forget it.”

She walked along with him, more into the shadows, more into privacy, and at his question she pursed her lips, focusing on lighting the blunt and taking a long, slow pull from it, keeping the smoke in for as long as she could til she coughed some of it out. “I’d rather not talk about it, Ang. You know that. Now hurry up so we can switch.” She told them, taking another drag.

Angel’s grin only widened at the other’s snarky, hypocritical remark, finding it oddly endearing when most people probably found it threatening. “Oh, shut up. If I spent all our time together kissing your ass, we wouldn’t be friends.” It was an unspoken truth they both knew— the sense of peace they felt around each other, the calm of knowing there was another person in the world filled with as much rage as you. It felt good to bask in each other’s anger, to hide nothing at all around one another. “Just admit it. You like me exactly how I am.” Another swig and Angel threw a knowing smile in Charlie’s direction. “And I like you just how you are.”

“As long as they have all the power they’ll never be bored.” He shrugged, thinking that they’d never get bored of their cattle. That was what the human population was to the vampires, just beings to be used and tossed. The whole idea made him scrunch his nose a bit, facing the realization that his life didn’t matter always made him feel empty. “It wouldn’t work out well for us if they did get bored.” He could imagine a whole mess for them if that ever were the case.

With those thoughts he was tempted to open up that box right there, he needed a smoke just to get himself back into his relaxed state. He’d shrug, he broke the rules because they benefited him in some way, not every rule he broke either, really was dependent on how he was feeling. In this case he didn’t mind breaking them if it meant helping out a fellow slave, like him, who happens to be subjected to the bullshit every day. “Nah, I’m only kidding.” He wasn’t an asshole, wasn’t going to act like one either (unless provoked), he’d slide the small box across the counter towards the other. “Go ahead, think I got a lighter somewhere.” He said, standing up straight now to pat his person before digging into his back pocket to pull out a book of matches. “Here, make yourself at home.”

“You got that right. We’d all be fucking dead.” Angel breathed out a dark chuckle, finally wrapping a hand around the pack of smokes and feeling the first signs of his guard beginning to fall; his expression filling with relief now that he no longer had to play coy around the other to get what he wanted. “Then again, we could all be dead by tomorrow anyway so... gotta enjoy the little things, right?” Angel emphasized the question by bringing the freshly opened pack to his nose with a shy grin, inhaling the sticky scent deeply. There was nothing better than that smell... well, almost nothing. The taste was even more divine.

Once they were out of earshot, Ry nodded. “You’re brave for coming out of your room today. They tend to come looking for someone to pick on when they’re bored without us.” Ryan hummed, turning to the direction of his space. “Yea, they handed them out this morning. I’ve got a few extra in my bunk if you want one?”

Angel nodded in agreement at the other’s point, pursing their lips. “Yeah. I just— can’t fucking stand being cooped up all the time, you know?” Of course the vampires were still free to do with them as they pleased, just like always. Truthfully, their day off was no different than any other. Angel knew that and yet, there was still a part of him that hoped for change. “It’d be great if ‘freedom’ actually meant anything around here.” They had naturally began walking toward the dormitories and Angel breathed out one last freezing breath as they entered, a chill running up their spine at the slight temperature difference inside. “Fuck yeah. Let’s get bundled up, painter boy.” Angel teased, offering a sly smile as they walked towards Ryan’s bunk.

“You are a painter, right? I thought it was you I saw making a colorful mess around here once or twice before.” 

“How can you be so sure it’s daddy’s money, being a bit against the times aren’t you, you should be more progressive?” Valentine pointed out, noting his in for winding up the others- the vampire couldn’t help himself. He just loved pissing people off and humans were always way too easy a targets. “And why would I? You don’t really look worth it to me, I’m not about to throw cash at something useless. If I wanted to do that I’d just go to the Pointed Fang” He added, gesturing over him “No point in polishing a turd afterall, at least that’s what I what I hear anyway.”

Izzy was honestly surprised to see a human reach out for her snake without any prompting on her part. She didn’t mind, however, if anything she was a little impressed that he dared. She couldn’t imagine a lot of humans would reach for a vampire’s pet, especially one that might bite. She beamed when they described her snake as ‘a rain drop in the sun’, nodding her agreement. “Isn’t he?” She had bought the creature on the spot, the minute she had laid eyes on him. She considered the name for a moment, uncertain. “That’s a bit of a mouthful. I mean, I can see what you mean, but four syllables is a lot. My other snake is just named Ghost. But I guess maybe if he had a nickname.”

“Iri for short.” Angel shrugged, clearly less interested in the name than the snake itself. Their eyes and finger continued to roam over the animal’s shimmering form as the vampire rambled, perking up at the mention of Ghost. “Two snakes, huh? One not enough for you?” 

Charlie spotted him from a distance and beelined towards him. Angel had been one of the few people in her life she could actually consider a ‘friend’ (even if the term was loosely used). They were someone Charlie could at least relax around ever so slightly- enough to mouth off more openly without fear of being tattled on. So her comment came out teasingly, one that was quickly met with her eyes rolling at his comment.

“Well shit, here I was hoping for fresh blood to share this with.” She commented, pulling a blunt out of one pocket and a flask out the other, both…..gifts from their boss. “But I guess if you’re wanting to be left alone I can keep on walking….”

Charlie was the last person Angel expected to chase him down outside of work but the reason was made obvious in a matter of moments. Straight to the point she was— exactly why Angel liked her so much. Their previously tight lips morphed into a comically wide smile at Charlie’s teasing and Angel grabbed onto her hoodie as she pretended to walk away, slinging an arm around her shoulder to pull her flush against their side. “Fat chance I’m letting you finish these off by yourself.”  With a giddy laugh, Angel took the flask and planted a fat kiss on his coworker’s temple as a thank you. “To you, Charles. You’re the man.”

Jenna had returned a slave to the Hive and was making her way out when she spotted a familiar slave she’d toyed with before. She adjusted her blouse and smoothed down her skirt, making herself as she preferred to look, always pristine and without a wrinkle in her clothing. “Don’t you remember our time together, darling?” she asked them with a warm smile. She brushed her fingertips down his cheeks, attempting to recall if this was one she’d allowed to take charge or not. She did so enjoy that from time to time. “Would you like to come with me now?” she asked, leaning and brushed her lips over the other’s cheek, teasing them with her words, showing her intent.

That soft voice and sickly sweet touch sparked Angel’s memory even more than the pet name that followed, one Jenna so loved to use on him time and time again. A chill ran up his spine as her fingers were promptly replaced by cold, dead lips. Playing nice with a vampire was difficult when every bone in Angel’s body screamed to pull away. But playing nice could keep him safe. Playing nice could get him things. Playing nice could provide some kind of happiness in his hellish reality. Maybe. 

“Of course I remember our time together. I remember you most of all.” Angel pushed into the cold touch, though it almost burned against the obtrusive wind. “Though it is my one day off today...” Teasing, feigning autonomy over the situation, Angel leaned in to claim the other’s space, brushing their nose against hers with a low whisper, “Do I get a reward, if I come now?” 

“Hey uh, Angel?” Ryan approached, watching the other’s discomfort from the start. Ryan took a few quick steps to the other, crossing his arms over his chest. “Someone dropped off extra blankets for our section of the chateau. Guards are requesting you and I hand them out.” It was a lie, but at least it wasn’t far off. There was extra blankets, but the guards didn’t get a single care if they got handed out. 

“Please tell me you just saved my ass and we don’t actually have to do work on a Sunday.” At the other’s look of affirmation, Angel breathed out a sigh of relief, laughing slightly, giddy from the narrow escape. “Thanks, man. That was a genius excuse too.” Honestly, Angel had never really given Ryan a second thought before— he wasn’t the best at socializing— but he had to admit, telling such an effortless lie like that was pretty impressive. They no longer seemed bothered by the prospect of someone interrupting their free time but rather, tried to welcome the company. “I could definitely go for a blanket though, if that was true? It’s freezing out here.” 

Emmett was enjoying the day as best as he could with the cold front that was blowing through the city as of the past few days. He was on his way to the gym when he spotted someone he hadn’t seen in a while, a particular human that had a particularly loose mouth. There were many humans that lived in the city, so stumbling upon them was a bit surprising. With his curiosity piqued, he followed after the human with renewed interest, see if they had grown up a bit since the last time he had saw them. The likelihood of that actually happening was very small, he realized, but he was feeling more optimistic than his usual. When he finally caught up to them, and spoke the other dipped into the nearest alley. 

“No, no you’re not.” He said, stepping into the small space between the two buildings, his arms coming to cross over his chest. “See nothing has changed since the last time I’ve seen you.” He hummed, stepping closer to the other knowing there really wasn’t a way out without getting past himself. 

Angel allowed the vampire to move into his space with a clenched jaw, suddenly becoming very aware of the small of his back as it grazed the alley wall behind him. Leave it to this sadistic torture-loving prick to ruin his few hours of freedom. “Is that so?” It must have been at least a year since Angel had run into Emmett and though they wanted nothing more than to fight back, they tried their best to play nice instead. Turning over a new leaf, and all that. “Cuz I’m not so sure we’ve met before.” Eyes dark, burning with a silent hatred and resentment for the other and the pain he caused, Angel leaned in ever so slightly to breathe, “You must be mistaking me for someone else, sir.”

Valentine had no care about the scene that unfolded before him, watching how the other vampire simply huffed and walked off away from the human. Valentine took a drag on his cigarette and then noted that Angel was still there. “What the fuck are you looking at, move along, your wardrobe is upsetting to my eyes and I want it out of my sight” He said simply, gesturing over Angel. The vampire leaned back against the wall “Fucking humans” He muttered.

Just when he thought he’d escaped one bloodsucker, another was waiting  around the corner. Such a ridiculous insult wouldn’t normally get under their skin but Angel was still feeling tense from his first encounter. “We can’t all have access to daddy’s money.” Muttering the comment beneath their breath, Angel shook his head in annoyance before taking a challenging step forward and adding an overly emphasized “Sir” for good measure. 

“Unless you care to share the wealth?”