Darien shook his head and turned away from the ongoing debacle upon the stage that had been set up at the other side of the bar. Beoir Aite was a haven of safety for vampire, wolfkin, and in-the-know humans that weren't trying to be slayers and now...now it had been turned into a horror show. In addition to the small stage that had a karaoke machine sitting on it there were blindingly colorful streamers dangling from the ceiling, glitter clinging to the floor and tables (and, by proxy, the customers), and cheap disco balls bouncing lights around the room. It was no longer the plain place that many of them had come to know since his Bloodsister's second child had opened it in 1979 with the occasional bit of music playing from a stereo behind the counter.
Instead it felt like a bar from the '70s, only with music that spanned generations.
"I can't control it anymore; I've never felt like this before. Mmm, you really make me lose my head, my hungry heart must be fed."
Leaning on the counter, he cast a pitying look at his bloodkin behind the counter. Elizabeth had her white-blonde hair bound up in a messy pile atop her head - a sign that she was not taking this well - and there was Murder in her pale blue eyes as she savagely cleaned a glass. The entire time her gaze was fixed across the bar at the current singer, who was not only belting out the Backstreet Boys in a voice that was not meant for singing but was the entire reason her bar was like this.
A low chuckle turned Darien's attention to the vampire sitting next to him. Of everyone currently in the bar still torturing themselves, he was taller and broader than everyone with the exception of the hulking form of the bouncer, Erik. Short black hair grew in wavy curls on his head, lending a softness to the hard, heavy figure of his forever thirty-something face and body. He chuckled again and murmured something in Latin before saying in English, "At least my Mico tries."
"Now I know why I was born; you feel my feelings one by one. Can't see the world I'm walking through, cuz baby I see only you, oh yeah."
"Effort," noted Darien with a shake of his head, "is about all he has, Eligius."
Eligius Vitus smiled at that and said, "Yes, but that is something, is it not?"
He started to answer but another line being belted out loudly as well as Elizabeth slamming the glass she had been cleaning down on the counter stopped him. The glass cracked and then crumpled from the force she had struck it with, leaving a slight circle indent in the top of the scarred counter.
"Baby, it's the way you make me, kinda get me go crazy, never wanna stop."
"That's it," she snarled. "I have had enough."
Darien and Eligius both turned their heads, following her as she rounded the end of the counter and headed across the bar. If he had wanted to, Eligius could have stopped her as he was the oldest vampire in Beoir Aite at the moment but he simply picked up the glass of juice from in front of him and took a sip as he watched impassively. After a long moment Darien looked from him to the raging Elizabeth who had literally torn through a table to reach the stage faster. As she tore the mic from the singer's hand in the midst of the last lines, he noted, "Y'know, I've always wondered something about you and Edward, Eligius."
The older vampire arched an eyebrow and, as Elizabeth snarled threats that had a handful of vampires and wolfkin sprinting for the door, Darien continued, "What in all nine Hells made a stoic like you get with the most flamboyantly homosexual member of Kivana's Line? I mean, he's wearing enough glitter to light up the room."
There was a long moment of silence as Eligius looked across the bar at the ongoing debacle. His lover Edward Harlow was not only the youngest vampire in the bar at just over five decades but was also wearing a glitteringly gold and white spandex suit that would have made even Freddie Mercury reconsider wearing it. There was enough golden glitter on his skin to, as stated, light up a room if a light was put on him, and his tawny mane of hair was styled like an '80s hair band member. And he was somehow grinning goofily through Elizabeth's tirade of death threats to put off a few more customers into leaving.
"What do you see in him?" asked Darien, honestly curious.
For a moment he didn't think Eligius would answer but the big vampire sipped at his drink then did just that. He turned, leaning against the counter, and smiled as he gazed at Edward with obvious affection in his dark eyes.
"He amuses me," he answered with that same smile. "Plus...my Candeo, he looks good in his outfit, no?"
Darien blinked then said, "You are a strange, strange man."
"With a handsome, limber little man in my bed, yes."
Green eyes narrowed and Eligius blinked innocently back at Darien as the younger vampire muttered, "You're just trying to give me bad mental images now, aren't you?"
"Never," responded Eligius seriously.
For a moment there was silence between them, only punctuated by Elizabeth's continuing tirade towards the silent Edward, then he added, "Why, is it working?"
Darien groaned and shook his head before saying, "Damnit, I hate you, Eligius."
"I know," replied Eligius with a slow smile.
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