It’s a Trap!
Posted on Sun Mar 26th, 2023 @ 8:59pm by Dominique LaFramboise & Gideon Asher & Andrea Carter & Astaroth/Lily-Mae Arnett & Jason Baraghani
Mission:
Daemoniacus Tribulatio
Location: The Electric Cowboy
Nicki could only describe this club as high class white trash.
She had already forgotten the name of it- it didn’t seem important, really- but it was very honky tonk and yet very nice. It was clean and the decor not over done. The clientele, however, brought it down a few pegs. Perhaps if they require bolo ties and denim skirts to enter…
But never mind. The circle had been drawn hours ago. Convincing the club owner to let her do it had been difficult as he didn’t believe in demons, but when she had pointed out that something was causing extra trouble around here and even if it was just a human, they could catch them and put a stop to it, then promised to pay for any damage, he had simply told her to do whatever she felt like doing. It seemed he was just as uncomfortable with the recent uptick in crime as everybody else was.
So now they just had to wait for Astaroth.
She and Andy were in the club, keeping an eye out. The idea was that Nicki would remain hidden and text the clergy as soon as Astaroth showed his/her face. A few Wolves and Tigers were scattered amongst the club patrons, ready to get everyone out to safety when the demon eventually showed up. Jarod and the rest of the Lycans were stationed strategically outside and were to deter anybody from coming in once things started going down.
But for now, all Nicki could do was to wait.
Gideon and his Blood Rangers were also in position. He had successfully held off the local police. Local law would have brought in a tactical unit, armed with silver bullets. The last thing the supernaturals needed was for Astaroth to possess someone wearing ballistic armor and armed with an automatic weapon several magazines full of silver ammunition, and probably silver nitrate grenades, holy water, stake launchers, and all the rest of the 'monster killer' garbage that the 'Halloween Squad' had access to. His Rangers were dispersed around the area as well. As vampires, most of them could move faster than the human eye could see clearly, so they could close distance very easily, allowing them to spread out farther than the Lycans could and still respond quickly. Gideon wanted to be inside the bar himself, but a 1000+ year old Vampire would stand out to the other supernatural patrons, not to mention to Asaroth. But he was near enough that if he needed to, he could be in the building before Astaroth knew what hit them... well, fast, anyway. Astaroth was a high level demon. Gideon was pretty sure they'd know exactly what hit them and would hit back... HARD.
Jason made his way into the bar, ear piece, disguised as a Bluetooth speaker, in his ear, and surveyed the location. It was pretty standard as far as honky-tonk dance clubs went: dominated by a large open dance floor with a raised DJ dais at one end, a wall-to-wall bar at the other, and a limited number of tables and booths to the sides. It was loud, obnoxious, and, truthfully way more lowbrow than he would have preferred. Not that voicing that opinion would change anything. He looked around, trying to locate the werehound alpha, their bait, or the vampire commander. He'd have liked to have met all three prior, but as johnny-come-lately, he couldn't argue with them already being in place. He had a description of each and hopefully, he'd manage to bump into them. He'd relayed the description to the 12 men he'd been able to requisition for the night, so if someone else found them they could alert him. Regardless he forced himself into the grating persona he'd adopted for the evening: Cristobal Rios, and made for the bar to buy the beer he intended to only pretend to drink.
That guy at the bar smelled... different. If Nicki had to put a name to it, she would have said disingenuine. Normally, in a crowd this large, one smell blended into another, but this guy was so different, he stood out. People who smelled disingenuine were usually up to no good, but in this case, where everybody was up to no good, the disingenuine were probably on her side. That meant-
Wait! He wasn't the only one. She picked up several similar smells around the place. Maybe these were the backup they'd gotten minimal information about. She decided to find out. Creeping along as if she were extremely disinterested, she gradually made her way to a spot next to the disingenuous man and waited to catch his eye; she didn't want to appear too obvious, after all.
The operative noticed the woman making her way towards him almost immediately. She rather resembled the description of the werehound leader. The fastest way to be conspicuous was trying to be inconspicuous. He waited for her to be near enough and feigned surprise at seeing her, with a lilting Spanish, "Senora LaFrambuesa, ¡Me alegro de verte! I miss you last week. Come we dance!" He held out a hand to her, hoping she was who he thought she was. If not, well, he could always pretend to be drunk.
Nicki’s face broke into a genuine grin. She of course, immediately realized he was playing a role, but she also found that role amusing. Still, it didn’t mean she could play along. “You know I only speak German and English!” she replied in a teasing tone. “But, yes! We dance!” And with that, she turned and headed to the dance floor, assuming he’d follow. Talking while dancing wasn’t easy and Nicki was actually a terrible dancer, but so was literally everybody else there, so she would fit right in.
Jason was pleased the woman picked up quickly. She might not be the best at being undercover but she wasn't an amateur at least. He moved with her onto the floor, leading her to a space near the speakers. He hoped it wouldn't be overly stressful on her hearing, but it would help to cover their conversation. He took her hand, moving her into the proper frame for a 2-step while pressing an ear piece into her hand at the same time. "Look directly at me when you speak," he said leaning in to her slightly, pitching himself to hopefully be audible to her enhanced hearing despite the ridiculous volume near them. "I can read your lips, and it'll help sell the illusion that we know each other."
"And you can speak normally to me," she replied. "Hound hearing is impeccable. I'm Nicki, but you already know that, apparently."
"My proper name is Jason, but call me Cris or Cristobal tonight. I'm a friend of Major Cunningham's. You've probably already noted the rest of the people I brought with me. I'm told there's someone here acting as bait, and have a place set up to try and contain this demon?"
Andy, being an agent of chaos, meandered over to the jukebox and committed an obscene amount of money to the machine, each time picking the exact same song, 'What's new Pussycat'. Once she was done, she passed by Nikki and Jason, whispering "Bait," to Jason. Then, not sticking around to talk, she headed straight to the bar, ordering whatever local draft was on tap.
"Forgive me Father, for I have sinned," Andy said to the bartender as she was presented with a large foaming glass. Just then, the current song playing from the jukebox came to an end, only for 'What's new Pussycat' to start playing. Andy grinned and placed a crisp, clean $100 note into the tip jar for the bartender's troubles. The man rolled his eyes and left her to her drink, but was nonetheless grateful that she was making an effort to offset his 'suffering'. Settling in with her drink, Andy closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on her still raw emotions regarding her change, then her posture shifted, becoming slightly hunched and less self-assured, then she took a heavy pull from her glass.
Meanwhile, Nicki nodded after Andy. "We've got a circle drawn," she said. "Andy had to give me a refresher course. I just have to activate it when the demon shows up and steps into it." She shrugged. "Piece of cake."
Jason took a moment and gave Nicki a gentle spin, using the motion to activate his earpiece. "Watch the bar. The ginger who's got the over the top cocktail. Hound 1 is with me," he said accent entirely dropped for just a moment. He turned his attention back to Nicki. "Simplicity is good, but what do you plan to do after you catch her, assuming you do?"
“An exorcism,” answered Nicki. “And then I’m going to call the soul that rightfully belongs in the body and try to stitch them back together. Normally I wouldn’t bother as summoning a demon is pretty much against the law, but we need to find out why they did it- because it could mean something really bad is on its way.”
"Very well. We'll be here if you need us for containment or if your plan goes catastrophically awry."
Meanwhile, at the bar a woman sidled up beside Andy. Tall and model like, the woman carried herself with a high bearing, wearing a black dress with long silver earings . She looked at the young woman and sang, "darkness put her painted claws in me again, her vision drowns like service wine...."
Andy could feel her approaching, a shiver of power racing up her spine. Andy vaguely wondered how the others could not sense the power roiling off this being, but she often forgot that not everyone received the same training she had; of course, the greater part of the vampire youngling simply didn't care one way or the other, she was absolutely intoxicated by the presence of the being now beside her, singing to her.
"You..." Andy rasped out in a hoarse whisper, barely able to find her voice, her eyes wide and fixated on the woman beside her. It was like staring into the sun, blinding in its intensity. This was Astaroth, of that Andy had absolutely no doubt, the coming storm that everyone feared, but all Andy could feel was... thrilling. "You..." she said again, this time much softer, turning slightly to open her body posture as a welcome invitation. She was at the eye of a storm and Andy could almost smell the ozone from the proverbial thunder strikes.
Astaroth, as Lily-Mae and smiled. "I, what little vampire witch?" she asked, laying her powers on thick. The fools. She could smell the hound and the wolf all over the place, and the lemon juice on the floor, benefits of having a werewolf meat-suit though it had taken some getting used to to master. It wasn't hard for a being such as her to pick out the vampires around the room either. Like the great Astaroth would fall for such a sophomoric trap. "Such luck for you, tossed aside by those you thought your colleagues over something you cannot control, and now dangled like a worm on a hook. Is that what you want for yourself? You could have so much more," she teased.
"More?" Andy said in a half daze, somewhat cognizant that she was being drawn in like a moth to a flame, but knowingly allowing it. "I don't want more, just what was taken from me," she said sadly, daring to reach out to caress Astaroth's cheek.
The demon smiled. This was turning out to be a wonderful plan. She waited for the young woman to finish and took her hand. "And what, precisely, was taken from you that is worth anything? A title? The opinions of that group of self-important fools matters not a wit. You are what you regardless of what any mere human might choose to acknowledge and that power is yours and never was nor never can be taken from you by a group of blowhards. It's there whenever you are ready for it again," she said. The demon was mildly amused with herself, considering that had also been an entirely truthful statement, as far as it went.
"I don't care about titles or the job I lost," Andy said with a defeated shake of her head, closing her eyes as she once again attempted to reach within for her magic, as if to demonstrate to the being before her that she could not. "I can't feel my magic, I feel so empty!" she exclaimed softly, her intense emerald gaze now hay with tears. "I can't feel the tectonic forces used to fuel Alchemy, I can't ignite even the simplest of arrays... I feel so lost, and the knowledge- I guess I do miss the respect of my peers; it was like all my theories and research suddenly became invalid once I ceased to be human. I don't know if I can live like this!" She was clutching Astaroth's hand as though she was the only thing keeping Andy from falling apart.
And there was the in for Astaroth. She could feel the human flailing, looking in all the wrong places. Astaroth reached down and cupped the woman's face. "My dear, the problem is that you keep trying to find your magic and power where it was, not where it is. Here, let me show you," she said, moving in.
Andy could see Astaroth moving in and she was struck dumb. What was Astaroth offering? Should she accept? The vampire youngling had intentionally tapped into her pain over her transformation to make herself a more appealing trap, but from the look of things, she was the one now caught in the trap. She didn't know what to do anymore, she clearly wanted whatever Astaroth was offering, but she knew she had a job to do. Perhaps she could serve two master in submitting, or was that simply rationalizing her own selfishness? But after so much hurt and loneliness, didn't she deserve to be a little selfish? Of course she did, but now wasn't the time! All these thoughts ran through her head in the eternity of seconds that passed and Andy found herself leaning in to Astaroth without conscious though, as though caught in the demon's personal gravity.
Satisfied the demon finished closing in and kissed Andrea, waiting for the woman to relax before pulsing demonic energy to open a tiny cut to feed the woman a few drops of her magic-infused blood. If Miss Carter was half the alchemist her titles had suggested, and Astaroth had the divine sight to know she was, two drops would be enough of a divine spark to flood the vampire's chi pathways and wrench them open even without her doing the hard work of self-discovery.
Andy had never before tasted near-human blood before, live and from the source, it was like Ambrosia spreading across her tongue, but even more intense was the power; like a supernova exploding through her, the power burned, painful and glorious and leaving behind bliss from the rush. Needing to be even closer to her companion, or perhaps her desire for more blood overpowered her, Andy reached up to weave her hands into Astaroth's hair, pulling the demon closer and thrusting her tongue into the woman's mouth in a display of pure passion and need. She could feel her magic and oh so much more, her senses exploding as she felt every life force in the bar, smelled their blood, heard their heartbeats, but she wanted more, everything, and Astaroth could give that to her, and she displayed that want, that need, in the hungry kiss assaulting the lips of innocent Lily Mae.
Astaroth internally celebrated her victory. She let the vampire deepen the kiss, carefully feeding her only another drop or two of blood lest they go into the realm of too much of a good thing. She let the kiss carry on longer than was discrete in the bar they were in. She pulled back slightly. "Easy there, little one. Bring your energy under control before it explodes. Or the redneck hicks notice us."
Andy issues a small, soft whine as Astaroth pulled away, and her emerald eyes practically glowed as she opened them once more to gaze upon her companion. "Then whaddya say we get the hell outta here and let it all explode?" Andy said with a lopsided grin, still riding the high of the infusion of demonic energy; she had not done any magic or alchemy in some time, so now she wanted to stretch her proverbial muscles.
"That sounds like an excellent idea. Would you care to take care of that ridiculous attempt at a seal trap at the entrance, or shall I?"
"It would be my pleasure," Andy replied with a wicked grin as she removed a Zippo from her pocket, the chrome casing of the lighter etched with a complex transmutation circle featuring a salamander at its apex.
Across the room, Nicki stiffened mid stride. “Astaroth,” she said, nodding towards the bar. Belatedly, she remembered that she was supposed to be undercover. Hastily, she grabbed ‘Cristobal’ by the front of his shirt and dragged him into a dark corner, trying to look sensual, but succeeding in only looking hungry, which was probably better for this crowd anyway. Once there, she pulled out her phone and texted the clergy. “They’ll be ready once the trap is sprung,” she explained. “Now I just have to stay out of sight. Keep close so it looks like we’re just making out.”
The man easily followed the hound. He bent in close to her. "Keep your eyes on them. Something doesn't feel right. The body language between them is all wrong," he said. He paused as his earpiece crackled. He grunted and kept his voice low while speaking into his earpiece, "We are not calling the MCM that," he grunted. He looked at Nicki, "Get your ear piece in," he said, intentionally obscuring her and also making it look like he was playing with her hair. "I could relay for you, but it'd be faster if you could hear and speak for yourself."
“Oh, right,” she replied, hastily pushing the earpiece into her ear. “What did they call it?”
The operative grimaced, "Nastie Astie," he said. "Although to be fair, I'm not telling them that MCM stands for morally compromised malefactor. MCM sounds much more badass than the PC workshopped nonsense it means."
"I dunno," replied Nicki with a grin. "I sorta like Nastie Astie myself."
Whatever might have been said the man stopped short and leaned in. "Was making out with the demon part of the plan, or has something gone horrifically wrong?" he asked.
Nicki's head snapped over to check on Andy. "Shit," she hissed. "I don't know what to do. Is this part of her plan? Is she leading Astorath on? I have no idea. Fuck!"
"That seems to sum it up," he agreed. "Your call, should we call for intervention?"
“We don’t call for intervention,” said Nicki, glaring across the bar at Astorath. “We intervene.” Without another word, she stepped around ‘Cristobal’ or whatever the name was and marched towards the vampire and the demon. “Astaroth!” she commanded, adding as much necromancer authority to her voice as she could. The demon had the werewolf’s hearing, so Nicki was sure it would hear her even without the power.
Jason cursed under his breath and began barking into his headset as the hound broke whatever cover she may have had.
Astaroth slipped 'her' arm around Andrea's waist. She leaned in, "I think your babysitter has noticed things are no longer going according to her plan I suggest we make this exit hasty." Fortunately, for the moment, at least, merely calling the demon's name, didn't actually count as a command, despite the clear intent.
Nicki had to be careful of the command. Certain commands would remove Andy’s free will and that wasn’t something she wished to do. She chewed her lip as she drew near and finally spat out, “you will not take her!” If Andy wished to follow, she could, but at least Astorath would be prevented from removing the vampire by force.
Andy flinched, feeling the command even if it wasn't directed at her. Fuck, why hadn't she anticipated this? Nikki was a necromancer and technically Andy was dead, meaning this could get ugly. Maybe it was the rush of her connection to Astaroth heightening all of her emotions, but when a sudden feeling of dread washed over her, she became overwhelmed by her instinct for self preservation. She raised the lighter in her hand, flipping the top open.
"I'd like to see you try to stop us from leaving," Andy said in a cold, steely voice, then struck the lighter. Faster than mortal eyes could see, a thread of concentrated combustible gases ignited from the spark of the Zippo, reaching the array on the floor. A burst of flames erupted over the array, burning away the lemon juice, years of spilt beer and cleaning supplies, and varnish before lightly charring the wood flooring, and then just as quickly extinguished themselves to the sound of Andy's lighter clicking closed.
The chaos that ensued was to be expected. Nearly everyone in the club saw the fire as soon as it started. This of course resulted in screaming and shoving and running and scrambling for the other exits as the music cut off suddenly. Someone pulled a fire alarm- needlessly, in Nicki’s opinion- and red lights began flashing over the fire exits. Thankfully, the sprinkler system- if the building even had one- did not kick in.
With everyone shouting and screaming and shoving, Nicki quickly lost track of Astorath and Andy. Never mind. The most important thing was to make sure everybody was safe. She had to stop them from shoving and shouting first and foremost. So, invoking a skill she had learned during her single year as a cheerleader, she jumped up into the bar in a single leap and shouted, “QUIET!” The effect wasn’t quite what she had wanted, but the crowd subdued significantly. “That’s better,” she said, voice still raised, but no longer shouting at the top of her voice. “Now, stop shoving, stop shouting, and be civil. The fire is already out. Nobody is in danger. Proceed calmly to the exits if you wish to leave. However, it is safe to stay, if you want to.”
In the midst of all the chaos, with the fire alarm blaring and people pushing about trying to seek an exit, Andy simply reached over to take Astaroth's hand and with a gentle tug, calmly led her to the front exit, heading straight towards the curb where her motorcycle was parked. She dug the keys out of her pocket and fed them to motorcycle painted with blue flames and kissed with a subtle silvery finish. Andy mounted the beast as it purred to life.
"My Lady, your chariot awaits," Andy said with a delighted smirk.
