Around the Block // OPEN

Irene had just finished with one of her clients as she had gotten herself dressed and decided to head out. It was a new year, and she decided she was going to head out into town to see what was going on. It was getting quite dark out and Irene found herself in downtown London where most people were heading to bars. "Hmmm..." her lips curled into a smile. "I suppose I could use a drink."

Walking into one of them, Irene removed her fur coat and revealed that she was in a black cocktail dress with some spiked heels. Sitting down at the bar, she smiled at the bartender, asking for a whiskey on the rocks. When it had finally come over, she sipped at it every so often before noticing that there were some men that were staring at her quite often. Narrowing her eyes, she shrugged it off quickly.

Of course, it didn't stop the staring, and it was starting to irritate her. "Excuse me, do you have a problem?" she finally asked them. The men laughed, shaking their heads without a reply as they went back to their beers. She could overhear them talking about 'things they'd do to her', to which she rolled her eyes. "Pigs," she said quietly to herself. "What was that? You callin' us names?" one of the men stood up. With a cheeky grin, Irene shrugged her shoulders back. "Yeah, I am. you're just a bunch of pigs."

It was almost an hour The Brigand had been sitting with a rowdy bunch of men, nursing a second pint. Of course he couldn't actually drink anything other than blood but he was careful no one noticed that, pouring a little bit of his lager into someone else's glass when no one was looking. He originally intended to turn them, bolster his kinds numbers but after spending a while with them he decided that they weren't really good for anything other than a good meal though he wasn't really a fan of drinking those that had a little bit too much to drink but he figured he could feed them to the others once they decided they had enough of the pub.

One of the bunch stood up to get another drink. "Same again Davie?" The vampire looked up at the construction worker as he spoke to him. He introduced himself as David Linch, an alias he had been using for a couple of years now. "Put one on the tap for me. Still on my second." He had spent a lot of time learning to act like the humans did, even asking the others of his kind since they all used to be human. Kaleds never really drank alcohol or really did anything social. It was all battle and war, probably one of the reasons his maker decided to turn him. Still, it took awhile but he eventually learnt to blend into the crowd on this world. It made the hunt more interesting.

He caught a scent as the bar door open, immediately catching his attention. He started to figure he wasn't the only one on the hunt when she removed her fur coat and revealed the cocktail dress underneath. Eventually he caught the attention of the others at the table, including the one that had just returned from the bar. They looked at her like a piece of meat, of course so did he but for completely different reasons. He couldn't help but smile a little as she confronted them and the backed off. Perhaps he judged the human race too harshly. Of course they didn't stop there with their vulgar language that made him slightly uncomfortable. He tried to hide it but it did show up on his face though thankfully no one no the table noticed.

Thing began to get a little to heated when the man sitting next to him decided to stand up in a show of force to the woman after she called him a name that accurately described them all. In an instant 'David' stood up and placed his hand on the mans shoulder. "Sit back down Charlie, your drunk." He wasn't quite happy about they way this was turning out, not really being a fan of drawing attention to himself.

Upon seeing the one man stand up, she could tell that a fight was about to commence as she slowly rolled her eyes. Finishing her drink, she set it down at the bar and turned herself around in the bar stool to watch them lazily, seeing what his plan of action was. Irene was very good at handling herself, being a dominatrix and all...

Still, curiosity perked up as her lips curled into a smile when she noticed that another man had stood up and asked the one drunken man to sit back down and to leave her alone. Giving that man a thankful gaze, she nodded before turning back to face the bar. She noticed that her glass was once again full, and she smirked at the bartender, one of her recent clients. He always gave her free drinks.

Sipping at it nonchalantly, she looked around and noticed that the noise was starting to die down, but she was still getting eyed at by several people, which was incredibly annoying. She decided to text Sherlock, seeing if he'd reply this time. She had some trouble getting replies back in the day, but she hoped he'd finally start speaking to her since the two had finally had dinner together.

Charlie turned around to 'David' with a fire in his eyes, ready to smack the man for touching him. "Sit down and shut up." The vampire looked into his eyes as he said those words, hypnotizing the drunk and weak willed man into doing as he commanded. The others at the table glared at Charlie, unsure why he back down so easily after 'David' asked him too. None of them seemed to mind though as they went back to their drinks. Of course they still kept an eye on the intriguing woman which he could tell was annoying her.

'David' remained standing as the men as the table went back to their drinking and vulgarity. There was no way she was going to trust or talk to him as long as he was still sitting and drinking with the bunch. With that in mind he stared back into the eyes of Charlie and whispered to him "Hit you friend." And with that said Charlie did just that, starting a fight amongst the group which caused the bouncers to get involved and throw them out. Of course it meant that he wouldn't be able to feed them to those he had turned but in his mind it was more than worth it to spend more time with the woman that interested him so.

He walked up to her at the bar, once more trying to get her attention. "I'm sorry about that. Seems they all had a bit too much to drinks." David asked for the beer that was on tap for him, using it as an excuse to be up at the bar talking to her.

Noticing that one of the men from over there had suddenly gotten up and walked toward her, she gave an uncomfortable shift in her seat, but was quickly relieved to see that it was the one man who had stopped the fight from commencing. Nodding when he had apologized, a smile curled on her face. "No matter. It happens at times. I really should learn to keep my mouth shut, all it does is get me into trouble," she shrugged.

When he had sat down next to her and ordered a beer, she took a sip at her whisky, analyzing him. He looked a bit older, maybe a little bit older than her. Despite that though, he was quite good looking, but something about him seemed to give her a red flag as though he was trouble. Shaking it off though, she quickly swatted that thought away. She did enjoy trouble after all.

Finally, after a moment of silence, she turned her head to speak to him directly. "So what brings you to this place then? Doesn't seem like those people are great friends of yours or else you'd still be sitting with them, would you not?" she smirked. "Are you alone here?"

He smiled as he watched the last of the crowd he was formerly with get chucked out by the bouncers. He couldn't help but be amused, of course this meant that the others of his kind had to find their own meal but he wasn't really caring. In truth he was so happy to get rid of them that he almost took a drink of his pint, and that was when it hit him. It would be odd for him to get a drink and never touch it, especially if he was going to remain here for a while. His attention was back to her however when she said she should learn to keep her mouth shut. "You kidding? I almost fell on my arse with laughter when you talked back to them."

Deciding to bite the bullet  he took a swig of the pint in his hand, leaning against the bar as he did it. It would be awhile until he had to deal with the consequences anyway. It wasn't quite often you would get a woman of her caliber around here. Slightly younger than he was when he was turned and beautiful to boot. Not to mention the scent that drew him to her in the first place. He couldn't help but glance at her neck, practically able to see the boo run through her veins.

Thankfully he snapped out of it when he spoke to him again. "Just popped in for a drink after work until they invited me over. Seemed okay at first until I realized they had been drinkng for quite a bit before I arrived."He paused for a moment to take a sip out of his drink. "Thankfully they're gone now so ye, guess you could say I'm alone now." He didn't bother asking her that question as he seen her enter this place by herself. Of course she could be meeting someone but he hoped not.

"Hope you don't mind me appearing like this, just seemed like you could use the company after what that lot were saying."

Hearing his story as to why he ended up here and how he met those people, she nodded as she sipped at her drink slowly. Setting it down at the bar, she continued to listen and then heard that he was now alone. She smiled at him when he then said that he had appeared because she looked as though that she needed company.

"Well it's nice of you to do so," she nodded. "Usually I show up here with a date, but lately, I've found that most people around here are far too boring." Not only that, but Sherlock was back, and she intended to spice things up and make things a bit more interesting to see how he would react. She would worry about that later though, once he was settled in. She was in no rush to settle down with a 'boyfriend'.

"So is this how you flirt with women or were you simply being a genuine human being?" she winked, teasing him. Although she didn't really mind either way, she found it interesting that there were still level headed people in the bar who were willing to help others. She had not encountered men like that in a long time. Of course, there were always those feisty women who would talk a drunk girl out of walking out with a stranger. This was a bit different.

He nodded when as she claimed that people around there were boring, agreeing with her. He looked around, noticing all sorts of people there all doing the exact same thing. Were their lives really so empty that going to a building like this and drinking alcohol was their idea as a good time? Even when he was a Kaled he would have found this odd however after spending so much time on earth he had learned to at least pretend to enjoy himself. "I see what you mean," he said as he turned back round to face her

He couldn't help but grin as she decided to skip with the verbal sparring and get right to the point. He had to admit, this woman surprised him as most people usually waited till someone had a bit more drink in them before that conversation came up. He drunk a bit more of his pint but not too much, hoping that he wouldn't have to finish it all before he left this place. "How about both?" He kept his eyes trained on her, no longer being overly subtle. In truth he never really flirted with humans unless it was to lure them somewhere quiet. Of course a bite on the neck was what he had planned for her at first but a little voice in the back of his head was telling him that doing such would be a waste. Besides, there were plenty of other people to drink.

Placing his pint down on the bar he asked, "What would you prefer? That I was just being a good upstanding citizen?" He looked at the bartender as the man was about t pour him another pint, shaking his head to indicate that the little he had left would do him for now. He wasn't sure exactly how much he could drink before he became ill and he didn't want to risk it. "So do you have a name, or would you prefer to remain a mystery?"