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"Mister..."

Rough calloused fingers traced over the pentagram in his grasp, his amazement never ceasing that no matter how much the world aged this necklace never did. It was the one constant in his life, the one reminder as to why he kept delaying his return to his beloved wife's side. 

"Adabi..."

He could still remember every detail of Esmeldia; Pale skin that burned if she was out in the sun for too long. The freckles he'd trace with his fingers as she slept, the black tresses of hair that cascaded down her back like a waterfall. But it was her eyes that he remembered so vividly that he swore she was there in front of him. Blue eyes like the ocean that held yellow and red flecks within them. She had been the first salvation of this world, an experiment of his master who sought to control the cursed being he had accidentally created. 

"Mis..." 

He had fought so hard to kill his master, to end her servitude to that creature and that man who called himself a warlock... That called himself his master. They had been so happy together, living every day amongst the stars above. It didn't matter that his master had rendered her barren, he had just been so happy to be in her presence. She was his salvation, the voice of calm in the storm that raged around them. Yet [i]he[/i] had-

"Mister Adabi!"

Brahm turned to face his secretary Lacey, the usually composed young woman looking as if she would pass out at any moment. It only took a few steps to reach her but when he did he grasped her shoulders, steadying her as she peered into her eye. Her silver eye that others said was cursed, the eye of a seer. A gem he had found upon the streets a few centuries back, he had nutured her into what she was today. But it concerned him that the veins that spidered out from her eye were bulged, swollen from over use as she had clearly had a vision. But today wasn't the full moon, her powers weren't nearly what they were so prophesies or visions should have been small insignificant things. What vision could have done this to her? 

"Lacey, what happened? What have you seen?"

"She's alive!"

Brahm took a step back as he saw her smile, his powers had subconsciously probed into her vision and pulled out something he did not wish to see. There, before his very eyes, stood his Esmeldia. Her skin, her freckles, even her eyes were the same. Everything except for her hair... it was dyed a unique shade of blue. Her attire, too, was something from the modern era. This girl, she was not his Esmeldia. But she was nearly perfect... it was as if she came back to him. 

"Who is she Lacey? You know I do not like to play the pronoun game." 

"A-Apologies Mister Adabi! Do you remember the woman who was bitten by Vander? The one who survived?" 

"Of course I do Lacey, I may be ancient but like an elephant I do not forget."

Lacey took a deep breath as she steadied herself, knowing that her master would not like the news he was about to hear. But it was far too important to let it go. 

"This girl, she is the daughter or the couple who was murdered." 

Brahm turned around and stepped towards the window, a bead of sweat rolled down Lacey's forehead as she watched his solemn face grown into the most wicked expression of glee. 

"Mister Adabi, the vision I saw... a vampire by the name of Rose Dubois has plans to murder her in cold blood! If we don't do something about this you could lose-" 

"Send someone to keep an eye out on her then. If anything happens, have Rose captured and I will rid the world of her and her creator myself. But I want her to stay there, is that understood Lacey? I want her to stay there because a certain pain in my side will eventually be unable to resist going back to the scene of his almost reprieve from pain. I want them to meet and I want them to bond. I want them to do this because I will enjoy tearing this joy away from him as he did me. I will steal what sunlight he has in his sad little world and laugh as I bring him to his knees!" 

Lacey nodded and rushed out of the room, Brahm running his thumb over the necklace once again as he stared out at the vast city of Dubai. 

"I wonder what you're called in this life... it matters not, I suppose. After all, you'll die by my hands either way. You should've stayed dead, my love... I would've joined you soon enough."

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"Alright last call everyone! It's an hour to midnight and you know what that means!" 

"Aye lassy we know what it means! Ye say it e'ery night! We don't 'ave ta go home but we can't stay 'ere!" 

Alexandra chuckled as Sean waved her off, nodding to him as she looked at the rest of the crowd. 

"It's exactly as Sean said! Get your drinks, finish up and we'll see you tomorrow for karaoke!" 

To that she heard a cackle from beside Sean, his half brother Henry red nosed and cheeked from his inability to handle his drink. 

"I can't wait to see you on stage Alexandra! Your voice is like -hic- like a dang angels! If only you'd agree to let me take you to bed, I'd show you-"

Before Alexandra could even begin to get angry Rose appeared beside the man, placing her hand upon his shoulder as she smiled ever so sweetly. But her eyes, her brilliantly green eyes, looked almost red... weren't they? Alex blinked and looked back to Rose; her eyes were as emerald as ever. Perhaps she had been working too hard by doing 6 shifts a week. 

"Henry, please do not speak about ma petite fleur spéciale like that. Unlike your wife, she does not sell her body because her deadbeat husband drinks and gambles away his money. Oh, I apologize... her money. Your unemployed, aren't you?" 

The whole bar erupted at Rose's veiled comment, not even Sean came to his defense. Too many times Henry had been vulgar, he was known across town as a swindler and a crook. But out of respect for Sean no one dared make a comment, well, no one dared but Rose Dubois. The formidable French woman who owned a bar and held her own against any man who gave her grief, who led a winning streak at the shooting range, who had multiple fencing awards back in Paris in her youth. The woman was impressive and it'd be a lie to say that Alex didn't wish to be her. She was everything and then some!

"Shut the f-"

"I would mind your tongue if I were you Henry... I would hate to ban you from the only bar in town. After all, there are plenty of liquor stores but you would hate drinking at home wouldn't you? Sitting in silence, sipping your pint of warm ale, all whilst the sounds of your wife getting ravaged echo through every room. Apologize to ma petite fleur spéciale and I'll keep allowing you to come here." 

Henry gulped as he turned his head to look at Rose, the look of calm upon her face making her words even more unnerving. The bar was silent, Alex wondered if a pin would drop to break it. 

"I... I apologize Alexandra. I promise not to say anything like that ever again."

With that Rose released him, the tense air diminishing as she clasped her hands together. 

"Alright ma petite fleur spéciale! Last round is on me for everyone! Have a wonderful evening ladies and gentlemen!" 

With that Rose made her way over to a man who had positioned himself by the staircase that led up to her quarters, the din of the bar coming back to life drowned out whatever Rose whispered to the man before they quickly went upstairs. 

With the last call being on Rose everyone was quite eager to get in an order, her hands quickly making and passing drinks to each and every person who came up to the bar. It was her luck though that she had just finished serving the last customer their drink when Ruby had entered the bar, Alexandra's face lighting up as she saw her. That was until she saw her expression, knowing something was clearly bugging her. 

"Tom Odell has a girlfriend!”

Alexandra couldn't help but wince, she knew just how much of a crush Ruby had upon him. Wasn't he single though? Just who had swooped in to get him? She'd have to do some sleuthing later, but for now it was damage control time. Alexandra set down her cleaning rag and leaned upon the bar, her hand finding its way to Ruby's hair. Gently she patted the top of her hand, smiling softly as her eyebrows furrowed a bit. It was hard to see her best friend in pain, she was like her sister in reality. Perhaps a revenge plan was in order to make Tom regret his decision... there was the fair coming up tomorrow, and she did have time off now. Plus she'd been meaning to go shopping since her parents had sent her some money for her birthday she'd never used. 

"Hey now, the answer to your boy troubles isn't alcohol! But... I do have some good news for you that would pair well with a strong drink!" 

Alex beamed as she turned towards the flavored vodka selection, grabbing a double chocolate vodka along with her favorite chocolate liquor. Throwing a few shots of each in the blender she chucked in some chocolate ice cream in there as well and blended it into a thick milk shake, spraying some whipped cream on top and threw a spin into the glass. Sliding it over to her bestie, she hoped onto her own bar stool that sat across from her and placed her hands excited onto the bar. 

"So Miss Rose is going on vacation and is paying me so I don't end up going somewhere else! She also said that tonight we could drink her dry as long as we lock up when we're done! So I have a plan!" 

Alexandra poured herself a glass of the milkshake and took a sip, enjoying the smooth burn as the spiked shake went down easy. 

"We drink tonight, get an Uber back to my place and you spend the night! Tomorrow we Uber back here, grab your car and go to the mall and whilst I regret saying this... you can pick out matching revenge outfits for us! Then we go to the fair, we make Tom O'Dell regret not choosing you, then we come back here for karaoke and bring your own booze night! We get wild and then nurse a hang over the next day! If we pace ourselves this plan might just be crazy enough to work! Do you accept the mission Rue?"

Alexandra grinned as she hoped perhaps some girl fun would take her mind off things and help get her ball of smiles back. In this moment her she was sure her mother would've commented about her 'light shining through'. Maybe she was right, in the end she wanted her light to shine upon everyone and to make them smile.