Interlude

Because it was a weeknight, the Lunatic Café was getting ready to close up at around 11:30. In the hours since Asher's arrival, both Raina and Alfred had been preparing the special room in the back for their "honored" guest. Used for meetings between the various clans of lycanthropes, the back room was padded and soundproof, allowing for the rather boisterous gatherings to be conducted with no one within the café any wiser as to the goings-on in the backrooms.

Raina rested her hands upon her hips as she now inspected the room. The elevated platform with the three chairs had been pushed to the back wall while the other conference chairs had been stacked and placed to the side. The floor was bare, consisting of simple wooden paneling which felt good to her bare feet, though she would have preferred actual earth. The walls themselves appeared normal enough, until one was informed that they consisted of three layers, the middle one filled with a synthetic fiber meant to dampen and completely muffle any sounds coming from either side of the barrier. Only a single exit existed, the doorway leading to a short corridor outside which further lead into the main café area. The corridor also acted as a sound barrier, to help muffle the sounds that might escape the thick doorway, even when it was locked up tight.

"Are you sure about this, Raina?" Alfred inquired, hoisting the thick chains over his shoulder as he turned towards the doorway. Raina's brow furrowed at the question and she turned towards the other were, fixing slitted amber eyes upon his form.

"Are you questioning my orders?" she asked in a soft tone of voice. Alfred flinched as if he had been hit. A frission of fear zipped up his spine, making him hunch before he shook his head and replied,

"No Raina." He then quickly apologized, nearly baring his throat to her. Fortunately, she did not require it of him, because she had already turned aside again, allowing herself to prepare for the upcoming battle. Another wicked smile curled upon her lips as she contemplated what she was planning. Alfred, however, insisted upon disturbing her reverie as he stammered, "I... I'm going to go finish up." He then quickly exited the room.

She didn't bother to watch him leave. She could smell the sweet scent of his fear dissipate as he exited, the sharp taste on her tongue diminishing with his departure. Mentally she decided that she would deal with his mild insubordination later when she wasn't so distracted and when she was in the mood for a little excitement. Idly, she wondered if the master vampire Asher feared anything, and if he did, would his fear taste similar, or would its potency be magnified by his power?

A sudden quiver of excitement skipped across her skin, like tiny prickles of heated needles dancing a dervish upon their smoothed surface. As the awareness of another's presence entered her subconscious, she knew, without turning, that he was standing in the room behind her.

For the first time in a very long time, Asher allowed himself to admire a woman. Standing as silent as death, only his eyes moved within the hood of the cloak that he continued to use to hide his appearance. They followed the line of her body starting at the top of  her auburn curls and tracing her slender yet powerful body, down to the endearing vulnerability of her bared feet. She was, he decided, enticing. Enticing enough to tempt his control and taste the blood that coursed so powerfully within her body.

It went without saying that he did not trust her, moreso when he noted that she was the only occupant of the room. However, it also went without saying that he was fully expecting to participate in a power game in order to gain the information he required from her. This last thought was proven true as he stepped inside the enclosure and the door was forcibly slammed shut behind him, a whisper chains being applied to the lock the only sound penetrating from outside. Asher turned his head in order to glance over his shoulder at the sound, an ambivalent expression coloring his shrouded face, before he returned his gaze to the woman.

"Do I even need to assume that your Ulfric knows anything about our meeting?" he inquired lightly, not in the least bit perturbed by the locked room scenario. For her part, Raina appeared equally at ease with the situation. She began to approach him, her swaying hips giving rise to a rolling gait that was at once graceful and yet provocative. Her bare feet made no sound as she drew nearer. Licking her lips once, she allowed a small, amoral smile to shift her expression into something far more dangerous than anything she had offered to him previously.

"When you assume that you can walk into the lair of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, and demand an audience with our Ulfric, you set yourself up for punishment, Asher."  His name was spoken in a voice barely above a whisper, her face mere inches from his, still hidden within the recesses of his cloak. Without warning, her hand shot out and removed the offending garment from his head, displaying what he had taken such pains to hide.

Asher watched a mixture of emotions run rampant within those lovely amber eyes. He had expected horror and shock and perhaps even a little fear. As a result, his face remained painfully impassive, not showing a single emotion on his once expressive face. What he did not expect was her fascination.

Asher's scars were quite vivid upon first viewing. The raised and puckered skin lining his right side fell just short of the midline of his face. Radiating with spidery tendrils, the scars seemed to claw their way across his chin, cheek and forehead, with only his nose and mouth left untouched by the ravages of the holy water that had once been poured across his flesh. Priests had once thought that the application of holy water would be enough to drive out the "evil" within his soul. But they were wrong. It had only served to bring it to the fore.

Silently Raina observed him, her perusal of his wounds an unabashed examination that offered no apology. On the contrary, she appeared utterly enthralled with the markings on his face, her eyes eagerly tracing each line and each blemish. A strange light came to her brown eyes, warmer now with the lighter honey tones they normally eschewed. Without realizing it, her hand lifted and reached out to touch his cheek, but Asher immediately stepped back, anger flashing in those clear blue eyes of his.

"Do not," he ordered her, a hint of menace underlying his words. The change in his composure was nearly instantaneous. Where he once stood with indifferent aplomb, he now held himself stiffly, his emotions beginning to crack through that imperturbable facade. She did nothing to touch him again, but silently began to circle the vampire, drawing close enough for her heat to pulse against his body before pulling away with the next step.

"Poor Asher," Raina minced softly as her lips came close to his ear. "So lovely and yet so hideous. Someone carved an interesting montage on that pretty little face of yours, didn't they?" Cruelly, she taunted further, "Makes me wonder if they stopped with just the face..."

But before she could finish her thought, his scarred hand shot out from underneath the folds of his cloak straight for her neck. Raina suddenly found herself suspended in the air, his powerful fingers squeezing her windpipe. Immediately, her own hands shot up to grasp his in order to prevent her possible asphyxiation. Asher didn't even look as if he were exerting any kind of effort in keeping her immobile. And interestingly enough, he had his emotions under control once again.

"You push too far, Raina," Asher whispered back to her, gripping a little tighter. Raina's hands were already shifting in an attempt to dislodge his grip, her smooth and supple fingers snapping and crackling as bone and tendon rearranged themselves into their new shape. But Asher was already flinging her body through the air, slamming it against the raised dais so that she crumpled slightly onto the ground. She was momentarily stunned by the throw, dazed that he had gotten the jump on her so quickly. In fact, she was determined to rectify the situation when a heartbeat passed and Asher had joined her on the floor.

This time, her arms were pinned to the ground by his as he forcibly held her body in check. His cloak had since been discarded and long, metallic gold hair spilled over his shoulders. Raina stilled her writhing as she looked up and drank in the sight of his body over hers. He was wearing one of those loose yet frilly linen shirts, the scalloped collar hanging open so that his chest was visible for her perusal. And look she did, those feline-like eyes darkening to warmed cognac as she began to memorize the carvings upon his flesh.

His chest was much worse than his face, the scars running deeper and more convoluted as they left weeping valleys of raised pinked flesh upon his skin. It was as if she had taken her claws and ripped his skin herself, and then watched it heal while maintaining the same shape, the skin never smoothing out again. The sight was incredibly erotic to her senses. Her own chest was heaving quite heavily, her blood pumping furiously through vessels that were reacting to the massive shot of adrenaline racing through her system. She had stopped struggling and ceased her attempts to free herself long ago, allowing her body to become languorous and surprisingly submissive beneath his own.

"Perhaps I've not pushed far enough," was her mocking reply as she slowly licked her lips, maintaining her gaze. Asher was not immune to the display, the icy clarity within his blue eyes melting slightly as a darker heat served to deepen their color. Raina's hands were still altered; fur covering her skin from the wrist up, and black lacquered talons raised from every finger. And Asher's hands continued to maintain their grip, but there was no need to enforce the hold, as she no longer struggled against him. His gaze locked with hers, his long, blond hair curtaining both of their faces as he hovered directly above her. The heat from her body had already begun to seep into his skin, enticing his control towards the breaking point.

"I could kill you with no effort at all, ma belle loupe," he informed her softly, his voice carrying a cadence she'd not noticed before. The result was euphoric, his voice caressing her body without the benefit of any physical touch. She could feel her nipples tighten beneath her shirt. "I could sup of your lovely neck and drain your intoxicating blood, adding your power to my own."

"And you would be dead soon thereafter," Raina just as coolly informed him, a golden light beginning to glow within her eyes. "The only door out of this room is currently chained with silver crosses. When the morning comes, and I do not emerge, Alfred has orders to come in and if I am dead, then you are to join me." Asher was impressed with her foresight and her courage. His mouth curled into a half grin.

"Then we are at an impasse." Asher continued to hold Raina down, his grip on her arms mostly superfluous with the statement she had just given him. And Raina continued to lay passive beneath him, laughter dancing in her eyes as she silently mocked him.

"So it would seem." At her words, though, the vampire's lips slowly curled into a small smile, the fangs remaining hidden until the grin grew wider and he began to lower his head, his teeth winking at her in the dim light.

"So it would seem," he echoed, "unless, I did something to alter the balance."

Continued in the Third Movement - Bolero