everyone wants to eat but few are willing to hunt

for: open to everyone ( @vievecorcitystarters ) location: a donut shop in chissob hills

"A cute walking stereotype, officer... But one none the less," Leon retorted with an amused grin. The vampire had easily avoided being run into thanks to his abilities, but had stopped out of politeness and curiosity, recognizing the officer immediately thanks to his intel. Ah. The eldest Lycaon sibling.. Caleb's far more attractive elder brother. It was a shame he worked in law enforcement, or else he would have been just Leon's type. "I'll pass on the donut though, thanks," the vampire added. "I'd hate to take something meant for a child."

Teddy's jaw clenched, accepting his point, but that was as close to an agreement Leon was going to get. Call it precaution, but he wasn't going to position himself without having at least heard where his maker was at with all of this. He was the only person Teddy trusted blindly in that regard. With a soft exhale, the young vampire picked his glass back up, gesturing to Leon and himself as he spoke, "We, us..you keep saying that; Leon. If you find the prospect of war so inevitable, why are we not building a stronger, more obvious alliance. You, Rosu, the sisters..we should draft something up." Wild suggestion, huh. "I don't want to have to ask to be kept in the loop of things just because you and Vicente are at the council and I'm not. It'll be good to be more organized, protect each other more."

The sentence alone was enough to sour Leon's stomach. The rise of human powers. What an utterly ridiculous thought.

"Just don't stain the painting, darling. Other than that, have fun." What happened in the darkness of the Sisters' home would stay there. It was a night of celebration rather than worry. The vampires deserved to have a bit of fun after all that occurred since the last wine festival. "We shall have that chat when you are ready. Tonight is a celebration. I'll leave you to your enjoyment." She pressed a kiss to the air next to his cheek, grabbing her glass of wine and leaving the private room with the knowledge this was far from over.

Caleb knew that he had severely misstepped with the way Leon was insulting him, but he was also not going to let that stop him from doing what he needed to, something that he did not need to voice to the vampire.

Teddy could see what Leon was getting at, and the worst part of it was that he wasn't wrong. Ben's death had only been the start, the first domino to fall, but it hadn't stopped there. Vampires very rarely met their true death before, but lately, it felt as though their kind were thinning out by the hour, vanishing into the margins while the rest of the world pretended the war with Artemis had stopped. It was annoying, on a deeply personal level.

Leon pulled back from feeding after a moment, pulling a rag from his pocket to clean stray blood from his face and resume conversation. “Hunted us down and thinned our numbers. I see no reason to not return the favor. It's only a matter of time before they begin asking for more, Teddy... You know I'm right..." He turned back to the mortal and softly instructed them to Go, deciding he was done for the moment and focused his gaze instead on Teddy.

"And do you know better?" he questioned, his tone still light and joking, although it was certain the elf was flirting now. There was nothing bad that could come from harmless flirting at a party. Artus let out a laugh, sitting back comfortably. "As if you found a better supplier. Unless you found a deity willing to bleed themselves dry for you, you won't find anything as consistent and sweet."

Leon’s grin widened, his amusement growing as well. Sure, there were other elves he could have done business with, but he quite enjoyed the other’s charm… As well as his projected power and status within the city. The fact he wasn’t a goodie two shoes like other members of the Westwood family was simply too good of an opportunity to ignore, and so Leon entertained the banter quite willingly. “Perhaps. Perhaps not… I personally have never had much of a sweet tooth, but I can’t deny the preferences of others.

"Thank you, darling. It is so tedious, yet with the rise of human powers, the paperwork is a necessary evil." She did miss the days before Artemis rose to power. There might be one or two humans worthy of being a pet or changed into a vampire, but they were the exception rather than the rule. She imagined that Leon learned of the new human representative through his network. It was a pity that humans were now demanding complete equality. "Diversity is key when catering to the pallets of the many guests. Of course as hosts, there might be a slight imbalance towards our kind."

The sentence alone was enough to sour Leon's stomach. The rise of human powers. What an utterly ridiculous thought.

"I can't want to say hello to another elder? Ask where he's been for the past months?" He answered with a small quirk of his lips, but still he used magic to feel out the shape of the clasp on the collar in a habit he'd developed. Mostly he was trying to figure out what angle Leon was taking now that he was back in the city. "I spotted Rei a few times as well. He's old enough and can take care of himself, so I'm happy to see him at supernatural events."

Eiji clearly hadn’t learnt his lesson when it came to interfering with things that should have been left well alone and clearly his sense of self-preservation was even worse.

As a demon, such a vampiric trick would never have held, but this time, Matthew could feel the glamour blanketing his mind. He tried to fight it, to will the missing magic within him to resist, and it might have worked but the voice in his mind told him that feeding Leon's party was exactly what he wanted to do. As Leon mentioned, this was why he showed up at these parties year after year, after all.

“I wouldn’t dream of feeding off your nasty blood,” Leon retorted with a smirk, voice cheerful and polite despite his words. “You can do us both a favor though and go with some of my associates back to my private room though,” he continued as several other vampires appeared beside Leon. “Offer yourself to every vampire there, and then you can fuck off and do as you please.”

Christ. Of course Leon would notice something like that and use it against him. "Nah, I just don't like feeding in the company of those I don't fully trust." It was meant as banter, of course. He did trust Leon. At least with the business side of things. Teddy took a slow sip, letting the blood coat his tongue before leaning back. He would have apologised to the volunteers: he just didn't feel like it..or much, for that matter. The Artemis subject was already enough to deal with. Lost. Had they now? "I've yet to receive an apology for what they did to the building and our people...so much for peace." Byrne let his blue eyes roll back as he scoffed, "..yeah. It kinda does."

Leon smirked, taking it as a compliment that Teddy knew better than to blindly trust him. He liked the Rosu clan for the most part, but he was not part of that clan for a reason. "Oh but peace is exactly what they proclaimed we're getting, Teddy. ," Leon countered with a hint of sarcasm and a nod as a human volunteer came over and draped themself against the vampire for a feed. "The building, our people... Those of us attacked personally? Told to roll over and submit. Like dogs," he added sourly, looking to see how much his own frustration might mirror Teddy's as added, "Peace. Our silence as they celebrate making us fall in line and obey their wishes." He sunk his fangs into the mortal then, and fed.

Of course he enjoyed seeing people in dispair, he was...something. She still hadnt figured out the what he was though she could think of a few options, bastard, demon, villainous. All things humans would say about her but worse, but only because she didn't have supernatural strength to make her worse.

vix shrugged, largely unphased by the would be threat despite her deep-seeded mistrust of vampires. she heard worse from her favorite malevolent spirit before 9 am on an average day. "clearly I've been killed before." would it even bother her should it happen again? she chuckled. "pray tell, why do you presume to know by what standards I measure success and what motivates the assumption that it would not be by the same metrics as yourself?" her eyes narrowed, still glinting with that dangerous edge of curiosity. "because I don't care." victoria almost scoffed. "curiosity is fleeting fancy, a desire to obtain knowledge, but not inherently driven by intention." she explained simply. "but by all means, feel free to ask the most unstable among you. they will agree. the last thing you, or anyone, should want is my attention."

"If the last thing I should want is your attention, then get the fuck out," Leon commanded with annoyance. "These rooms are considered private for a reason, and if you hadn't noticed, you're trespassing at the moment."

At this point, Eiji had accepted that he had a death wish for the cause and didn’t see the point in attempting any acts of self-preservation now. That was, aside from trying to remain out of Zamok— arguably not hard enough.

“Extra?” Leon quirked an eyebrow, lips curled into a frown. He had plenty of options at his disposal, and a human he didn’t know was certainly not something he was willingly going to partake from. No, certainly not after all of the Artemis nonsense. He treaded carefully now, and often took to glamouring humans he didn’t simply kill.