Rayne Travers

When Rayne had offered him a drink, Vitaliy had expected more or less the same fare they’d had at the hotel. It was only when the scent of sweet blood hit him that it fully sank in that he’d just taken his first steps into a very different world - one that might just prove more interesting than he’d ever anticipated. He watched her pour the wine with a small tilt of his head, and intoned in a somewhat softer voice, “Please do. I look forward to meeting her… once she’s made a full recovery, of course." 

He accepted the glass that was handed to him without hesitation, a small shake of his head given in regards to the whiskey, "No, thank you. This is perfect.” And so, so very preferable. Perhaps not to fresh, hot meal (he had no such qualms when it came to his own dining habits) but indeed a close second. He really shouldn’t have even been surprised. Rayne was a woman of highly refined tastes. It’s what he had admired about her from the outset, and where they would likely find their common ground moving forward.

Yet in spite of his age, Vitaliy knew how to handle himself. Their meeting was obviously not his first brush with money or power, and he easily mimicked her posture to remain standing as they conversed, replying, “Well, I think we can both agree I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on your generous offer…” He gave a self-deprecating smile, “I’ve come to take you up on it. I apologize for keeping you waiting, but I am prepared to move quickly and work as hard as needed to make up for any… lost time.”

Rayne enjoyed the way this boy spoke. He was poised and polite. There was an air about him that told her that he was like her. Refined and classic. He conducted himself with the utmost class and didn’t let the facade slip. It was an important quality to have and she appreciated it. The others that had stood by her side, Xander and Declan, were rougher around the edges, they didn’t hold themselves the way she and Vitaly did. She appreciated their roughness, but as both of them had failed her, she was going to mold this one in her own image. “She’s looking forward to meeting you, as well.” That was a slight fib. Ash wasn’t sure Rayne was making the right choice, but she was trusting her gut on this. If it didn’t pan out, she’d simply tear the little vampire’s throat out and beg Xander to come back. 

She took a sip of her wine, the blood coating her throat and sating a tickle in the back of her throat that was her hunger. “I was hoping you were going to say that,” she told him as she stepped over to the desk and took a seat. “It can be a consuming job, days easily lost in the process of setting up the matches, recruiting and bookkeeping. I’ll need you to handle a lot of it at the moment, get your face out there and make sure people know who you are.” He was small, he was going to be easy pickings. She could see it. “But first,” she said tapping her fingers on the desk, “A test.” A smile spread across her lips, an evil glint in her eyes. “Find me a fight, Vitaly. Bring me a match.” 

“Fish and chips, got it,” She murmured under her breath as she finished off the amber ale, sliding it to the woman quietly as she wrote down the order and slipped it into the kitchens. Ringing the bell to signal that there was a new order in. 

“Oh,” Dacia blinked in surprise because she wasn’t expecting that, it wasn’t a slight or anything against either of them, just not what she was expecting. Still, she wiped her hands down with a rag as she held it over the bar, manners beaten into her from a young age as she smiled at the other woman brightly. Rayne, pretty name. “Yeah, Laslow was nice enough to take me on, Dacia. Nice t’meet you”

Rayne smiled softly at the woman’s shock. Yes, she could see why the pair would earn that reaction. He wasn’t exactly someone most would expect a woman like herself to be attracted to. Indeed, she was rather shocked herself, but there was a magnetism to him that she had not been able to deny from the very moment she had walked into this bar. She had been there to see if she could shake him down and gotten far more than she expected. When weighed against the others in this town that she had let into her bed, Xander, Vaughn, Lenor, Laslow certainly didn’t hold to the pattern. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Dacia,” Rayne said and meant it. She could be a horrible bitch, her reputation was legendary, but the woman across from her was properly kind and respectful. It was easy for Rayne to be civil as well. “How long have you been in town? I don’t recognize you.” She knew everyone. 

“Ah, you’re right.  Far too much doom and gloom lately,” he sighed, huffing out a soft laugh as he pressed another kiss to her forehead.  “Far too much.  Come on, we’ve hardly seen each other of the past few weeks and I simply cannot let that stand.”

Laslow moved from his position between her legs to pull himself up to sit on the counter top beside her.  “I’ve been starved for some proper gossip - how is Gemma doing?  She must be close to finding out the gender of the baby now.  I know Axel is hoping for a girl.”

He was right. They had both been so busy with everything that it almost felt like they were strangers in the same place. They moved around each other, their schedules working opposite each other. Though, Rayne wasn’t one that needed much sleep. She was just a workaholic and with a new second in command, she needed to focus her time where he was concerned. She liked the spark she saw in the kid’s eyes but there was a bit of greenness to him that she needed to work out. He was well suited for the life but he was small and young and people were going to take advantage of him or try. They had with her. It was why she had the reputation she had now. She’d made sure to beat it, rather literally, into many that she was not a welcome mat to be stepped on. 

Her arm around his and she leaned her head on his shoulder. She laughed at the mention of Gemma and Axel. She had been keeping an eye but from a distance. “He’ll be getting his wish,” she said. “Goddess help him if she’s anything like Gem. He's going to get his ass kicked.” Though, he would likely need it. He was a man, after all. He needed a strong woman with a firm grip. “How are the newbies working out for you at the bar? I met one of them, seems she didn’t expect me to be your girlfriend.” Rayne didn’t know why, but she had an idea. Not that she minded.

Charlie’s cries were so loud she didn’t hear Rayne speak, only responding when the other woman’s cold hand touched her. “No!” She clung tighter to Lana’s corpse, rocking back in forth as her sanity slipped far out of reach. Maybe someday she’d recover but the sight of the only woman she had ever loved laying dead in her lap was not one she could easily forget about - not that she’d want to. But beneath the pain, on this cold winter’s night, a hatred hot enough to fuel fire began deep down inside her, and that , Charlie knew would never go out. “Why…” Her voice was shot, her tiny body finally succumbing to its ailments as her adrenaline wore off and something much worse sunk in.

Hysteria.

Once again, Charlie began to cry, from physical or emotional pain she could not tell. Everything hurt, every inch of her, inside and out. “Why didn’t I die?” Her words were barely understandable, her head beginning to swim as blood dripped from a cut on her forehead and into her eyes. She pulled Lana’s corpse close, her sobs almost silent as her body heaved. “Wh-y - why not me?” 

The clever sharp tongued Charlie was reduced to shakes, her voice gone, swallowed up - surely - by the despair that festered within her. She had survived the car crash, physically, but her insides felt dead. Her hand faltered to her chest, feeling for a heart beat, and despite the way she felt the damn thing still thudded in her chest. Every part of her wanted to crawl back into the river to drown, but something told her that even if Rayne let her get that far drowning was no longer a way for this water witch to die.

It was cold, so cold that Charlie could see her breathe, her wet hair forming ice crystals. “I-” Her voice cracked, she couldn’t speak, so she pulled Lana up into her lap as best she could. With the adrenaline gone Charlie had begun to feel her injuries and she’d definitely broken some bones. “Sa-ve-” She forced the words out despite her protesting throat. “–her, please, I know-” Her head fell as she struggled to stay awake, her circumstances were overwhelming and her body was shutting down. “-what you are, what you can do. Please..” Weakly, Charlie continued to weep, “..I love her.”

Rayne pulled back and centered herself. She was sitting there, in a few grand worth of clothing ruined by snow and mud. She had gone out of her way to help the girl and while she wasn’t often given into fits of altruism, she was trying to hold onto that desire to help rather than leaving both to the elements and letting the screaming one join her friend in the afterlife. It was Xander’s voice that rang through her ears, it was Xander’s disapproving face that made her stop. 

Motherfucker.

She focused on the screaming girl, listened as she pleaded and begged and went straight for the self-loathing and survivors guilt. She had just gone through a decent amount of the stages of grieving in a matter of seconds and Rayne’s head spun. Her cold heart clenched softly at the poor girl's words and she sighed. “I can’t,” Rayne told her softly. “She’s already gone.” She knew the two girls. Had seen them around town, though only by sight. She didn’t have many dealings with the witches in town, they tended to have their noses too far in the air to pay attention to anything else. Rayne was too busy running the underground to give two shits. 

Her face twisted into a pained frown and she let her eyes fall to the body of the girl. The sorrow in the wailing one's voice punched a hole in her gut. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. She didn’t really know what else to say. We should get you out of here, though, It’s cold. You’re going to go into shock.” Rayne could carry the dead girl if the other was capable of walking, but if not she didn’t know how she was going to do this. She didn’t have a phone on her and in any case, the first responders wouldn’t be able to get through this. 

Her touch soothed him, her fingers and dulcet tones acting like a balm for his wounded spirit and pride.  His tempestuous eyes gentled and darkened back to mercurial grey and then to earthen brown.  Laslow leaned forward with a soft sigh, nestling himself in the crook of her neck to press a soft kiss against what would have once been her pulse-point.

“I know,” he admitted quietly.  “I’m not ashamed of my nature Rayne, I am happy to be who I am now, but…I was once so much more.  I got a glimpse of it and it was hard to let it slide away again.”

It was the truth, plain and sharp though it was.  Despite his origins, he was a kindly creature at heart - even when he’d been a king amongst the clouds, the prayers of the people below had always moved him to help them with his gentle rains.  Still, he had felt a dark little prick of pride when he’d dealt with the possessed witch in the square - and the desire that Rayne could have seen him, even if it was a shadow of his former glory.

The rain spirit sighed again, though it changed to a dry laugh at the end as he pulled back.  He cupped Rayne’s face in his hands, pressing his forehead to hers lovingly.  “I know, I just don’t want to feel so useless.  And…I do admit, I wish you could have seen me in the square.  I daresay you might have even been proud.”

Rayne’s fingers gripped his hands as the held her cheeks and she pressed her forehead to his. A gentle sigh slipped from her colored lips and she closed her eyes. “I know my love,” she said softly. “I know, you were and you will be again,” she had faith in him, she truly did, she just didn’t want to have to deal with the possibility of him going back into the hospital. She couldn’t handle it. It was all too much.

She pulled back, her smile turned down slightly at the corners and her eyes soft. “I don’t need to have been there to be proud of you. You saved people with your actions. This town needs more of that.” There was a darkness that hung over the town. It needed to be taken care of.

Art took a moment before responding, not quite getting her question till he said it out loud under his breath. He huffed before his words shot out, a questioning, disgruntled look on his face. “Um, decent? Not bad.” He looked at her blouse then her, then at the blouse again. He could swear he’d seen some of the brands she had on her now before. He’d definitely seen at least one on some other women who’d been big earners. Everything she had on looked expensive now that he was focused on it and his heart was dropping into his stomach. Exactly how much was it that she felt the need to get him to work for her? Could he still go back on his words now about fixing things?

His mouth seemed to open on it’s own. “Just how much is that thing?” Art wanted her to say ‘hundreds’ but had a sinking feeling it wasn’t the case though at all. He had a sinking feeling and it just caused him to be and look angry, to sound so in his voice again. He didn’t like being indebted to anyone let alone someone, some woman he’d just met. It never ended in his experience and he was livid again that it was his fault but he couldn’t process it that way. He all but set the cloth he was clutching down and tried to calm himself, exhaling. It was failing still as he could hear his words getting that edge to them that wasn’t quite right. He was trying to grasp at something, phrase it as if he was in control of the situation still. “If I accept then how… how do I know if I work for you that it won’t turn into something longer, more than what I owe you?”

Rayne shrugged. “Couple grand,” she said nonchalantly, “time three.” Six grand was a hefty price for an outfit, but the woman was no stranger to money. She had more than she needed and no need to pay attention to the cost of things, she simply bought what she liked. It was the joys of being a savvy business woman with more than 400 years under her belt.  The evil smirk that accompanied her delivery of the price tag was replaced with a brilliant smile and her eyes flashed with excitement. “Well well well,” she said smoothly, “not that is the right question to ask, isn’t it?”

“In all honesty, everything’s pretty good but, personally, I’d go with the burger,” preference taught Dacia that she preferred her meat a little bloody but each to their own. She hadn’t had time to memorize the menu let alone have a taste of whatever was on there, business was business though. As long as they bought something.

“Amber ale it is,” she murmured quietly, more to herself than the woman across the other side of the bar to her. Pretty blonde that seemed to have a bit of bite to her and smelled different too but it wasn’t really proper to bring that sort of stuff up to strangers. Let alone paying customers. 

Sliding across the bar, she avoided the puddle once again as she pulled out the appropriate glass for the ale, pouring it quietly. “You a regular here?” Dacia asked quietly simply for sake of conversation, she hadn’t spoken to many people during the day. Customers came & went so quickly, the last conversation she had was with her roommate early in the morning before she got to work.

Rayne chewed on the inside of her lip, considering the option. She could get it rare, she supposed. At least that would offer a little taste to her. It would have the slight hint of blood, though cattle blood was almost as foul as wolf blood if she was being honest with herself. Perhaps the fish and chips would be a better choice for this vampire. 

“Thank you,” she said looking up from the menu when the beer was passed to her. The menu was set down and the drink picked up. She sniffed at it, still trying to understand the appeal to such a crude drink but taking a delicate sip nonetheless. “Oh um, I guess you can say that. I’m dating the owner.” Dating Laslow seemed like such a silly comment. It was so much more than dating. He was her boyfriend and yet that also didn’t hold the weight it should. 

He didn’t fault the wolf for stopping him. On the contrary, appearances were often deceiving. Vitaliy was personally so accustomed to being underestimated that he’d learned to use the fact to his advantage, but today wasn’t about making someone eat their words. He was here on business - strictly business - and he didn’t flinch away from Xander’s scrutinizing stare. 

Rather, his eyes merely lifted to look past the wolf when Rayne appeared at the top of the stairs, and it took every ounce of willpower to keep himself from smirking throughout the course of their brief exchange. Maybe he ought to be worried that the prospect of his messy and untimely death had been put forth so casually; he truthfully didn’t know Rayne that well, but from what he’d heard, he hadn’t expected anything less.

He never thanked Xander for letting him past. Instead, his eyes silently followed the wolf’s retreating back till Rayne turned on her heel and (more or less) invited him up. Swiftly climbing the steps after her, Vitaliy confessed, “I’d intended to contact you after the Fayre, but after what happened, I didn’t feel the timing was appropriate." 

He’d had a front row seat to the sword fighting tournament and had watched the horror as it unfolded. Thankfully, he’d heard Ashildr had lived. The same couldn’t be said for her competitor, but that was neither here nor there. "Thank you,” he accepted the offer of a drink. Following Rayne into her office, his tone softened slightly as he inquired, “How is Ms. Falkenstrom? I understand you two are quite close.”

Rayne pursed her lips and turned, a freshly opened bottle of the sweetest blood wine she’d tasted held in her hand. “That would have been in bad taste, I agree,” she told him. She had wondered if she would hear from him at all. Her business proposal was a lofty one, but one she had felt she gave to the right person. He was young and moldable. Perhaps better suited than Declan had been. She had liked having a wolf as her second, it meant he could handle the wolves and she didn’t have to put herself in danger, but it was what it was. 

“She is doing well,” Rayne told him. “I’ll let her know you send your concern as I am sure the two of you will get to know each other rather well if your being here is about what I hope it is about.” She poured two glasses of the blood wine and passed one to him. “I have whiskey if you prefer,” she told him simply. Some didn’t care for the blood wines and others only drank from it. Rayne was one that only drank from it. It Rare was it for her to put fang to flesh. She controlled the beast inside her, it did not control her. Perhaps that was more terrifying than it was meant to be. For it meant that the evil that resided in her was of her own making and not of her turning. 

In her short fifteen years nothing that bad had ever happened to Charlie. She lived a life of privilege.With more money than she knew what to do with at her disposal, thanks to her families’ lofty estate, and a close knit family - it was fair to say Charlotte had never experienced trauma. In those cold, still moment, though, Charlie knew her life was changed forever. She closed her eyes tight, trying to wake up from what could only be a dream, but Lana was there - behind her eyes, cold, immobile, dead. Dead. How was she not dead? A thought Charlie would have questioned longer had the door not been ripped off the car. “AHHHHH!!!” She screamed louder, if that was even possible, as cold, foreign hands grabbed at her. “LET GO!!!” With everything she had she tried to tare away but it was no use, the other woman was strong - to strong.

“Motus!” The incantation sent her assailant back several feet, and as if a light went off in her head, Charlie was on the move. “It’s gonna be okay, Lana!” Her voice cracked, her throat ached. “I’m a witch..” She had started to cry as she undid Lana’s set belt buckle and pulled her out of the car through the passenger side.”I will save you..” In a mumbled, she continued, “Please, please, give me the power to do this.”

Charlotte knew what the other woman was, a vampire, and at any other moment she would fear for her life - but in this moment, the worst one of her life, she only cared about Lana. Her tears turned to sobs as she knelt beside Lana’s corpse, taking Lana’s head into her lap. Charlie brushed Lana’s hair from her face and took a deep breathe, tears still in full flow. She placed a hand over her necklace, her focus, and closed her eyes. “Please, please help me bring her back. I will be a good vessel for our ancestral magic, I will do whatever you want just-” Her voice broke as she continued weeping. She could hear the ancestors whispering, deciding, and then it all went quiet. The only sounds in the world were the lake’s lapping waves and Charlie’s unsteady heart beat. The silence was deafening as the weight of the ancestors NO weighed down on her. 

A loud shriek pierced the air, it was high pitched and pained. She jerked, was there an animal suffering nearby? No. Her body sunk low, hovering just above Lana’s. The sound was coming from Charlie’s mouth. Her chest felt like it had caved in on itself as she desperately began clinging to Lana. “PLEASE!” She whaled, “I love her!”

Rayne had been trying to help, trying to get the woman to calm down long enough for her to assess the situation. She could hear one heart beat. Only one. But there had been two in the car. Two humans. Rayne could smell the different types of blood as they mingled together, so she knew that they had both been living breathing creatures before the crash. It pained her to know that this accident had taken a life, but she was more concerned with the one that was screaming and not dead at the moment. Her focus was on her, trying to get her to stop screaming that she didn’t notice that the woman was a witch. It wasn’t until Rayne was propelled backward and nearly into the water again that she realized it. 

“For fuck sake,” she said annoyed at her luck. She was trying to help! Rayne Travers, ice queen, was trying to fucking help. She stood, pausing only to remove the heels that had sunk into the mud of the bank before she walked back over to the car. She had no cellphone, her’s was now nice and properly waterlogged, but they weren’t far from the Boathouse, she could get the girl back to the Inn, Xander could look after her while the police were called. 

Yes, that was what she would do.