The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

35

Kit arrived an hour after Beth-Ann had left. Ariel was thrilled for the extra hour of pay, had also enjoyed working with Monique. Once again Binh watched Ariel and was charmed. Monique was flirting hard and Ariel had no idea. It was delightfully entertaining. Monique essentially thought Ariel was ace with her complete lack of flirting or wondering eye for anyone. A pity, but that meant Monique could have fun and see how hard she had to flirt to get 'Jenny' to catch on or react.

Sadly Kit arrived and told Monique to knock it off on the new girl. Ending the game before 'Jenny' had ever even caught on. Binh came out, paid Ariel her wages. "Have any plans this evening?" He asked her directly, knowing what she intended this evening.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I thought I might watch a movie tonight." She lied, almost believably. Taking her envelope and saying thank you. Grabbing her coat and bag from the back. Heading to her apartment. Binh shook his head. The hard way it was.

Ariel did indeed head directly home. She made herself a light dinner. Then began to go through her small wardrobe. Unsure what exactly one wore when volunteering to let a vampire feed on you for money. She decided to wear the single kind of fancy dress Monique had given her. It was black of course, which seemed fitting at least.

Ariel pulled and twisted her hair into a neat bun at the nape of her neck. Washed her face of her day make up. Moisturized to start fresh. She tried her best to do a simple, evening look. Too scared to try and master a winged eyeliner, she settled for brown and gold smokey eye. Highlighting her cheek bones, enhancing her brows, a nearly nude lipstick.

She looked at her reflection. Almost. Adding a little color correction and concealer on the scar on her ear to hide the defect. It wasn't perfect, Beth-Ann had much more talent, overall she thought she wasn't looking too bad. Ariel thought she had mostly achieved the mood if not the exact look she was aiming for. Classic, without being bold.

Ariel took some of her precious cash and packed it in the zippered inner pocket of her coat. Closing and locking her door, adding the small key chain to the pocket. She had kept the key chain with all the keys from Binh. He hadn't asked for it back and she liked the extra feeling of security the keys gave her.

Ariel looked up and down the hallway as usual it was deserted. It was quiet all around her apartment and she was starting to sincerely wonder if there were any other occupants in the building. Ariel had worn a pair of black booties with the dress. They didn't have a real heel and were second hand and were by far the nicest pair of shoes she owned.

Briefly thinking that maybe she might earn enough money tonight to replace what she was burned at Binh's and maybe, buy herself a pair of new shoes. Making her smile as she walked down the hall and out onto the sidewalk. Three Hours Past Midnight was waiting for her outside. He did not like her plan, not one bit. His only reason was that it was distasteful. Ariel did put much stock in distaste when she felt she needed to earn the extra cash. A safe bite and a little blood loss was not the most distasteful way she had considered using her body for cash.

People were kept safe there. No deaths had ever occurred at the establishment. The raven knew her mind and did not understand her need to replace what her magic had damaged. Binh was not asking for recompense. Had essentially endless resources and did not need her money. There was a deeper pathology behind her need to do what she had planned.

Three Hours Past Midnight would have been more worried for Ariel and her reckless, unneeded plan to earn money tonight. Except that he knew Binh was stalking behind Ariel. Keeping watch on her. Ready to swoop in and intervene the moment he was needed by Ariel. Three Hours Past Midnight could not be more grateful the demon had been amenable to helping the raven keep his witch alive.

Binh admired the insane little witch. She had a strong sense of justice in her heart, had made herself look like a classic beauty from before movies had words tonight. She walked with such determination.

Binh wanted to tell her again that she need not worry about silly material things. Her nightmares were exquisite. She was giving him far more than he was giving her.

Instead he silently prowled behind her. He would not try to diminish her. Would like her to be free to make her own choices as long as they were unlikely to see her actually harmed. She had her own honour code, as broken as it was, he would not take it away from her. He wanted her to find herself by herself.

He would make certain that if she did follow through on her stupid plan, that she was paid more than adequately. One night wouldn't be enough to support her forever; Binh was going to make sure she was paid well enough that a second night should not be needed for quite some time.

Which in his eyes meant an extortionate amount of money, that he knew several vampires in the city would happily pay for the novelty of a freshly manifested witch's blood warm and fresh from the source. As distasteful and needless as he found her plan, Binh believed that if Ariel had a cache of her own wealth, she would be more at ease in her life. Money, so many humans always needed more of it.

Ariel walked steadily with her head held high the entire way to the vampire bar. Clearly determined to see her plan to the end. Dressed in a little black dress. Arriving just as the sun was setting. Which Binh was certain was no accident on her part. She was scared of being out alone at night. A reasonable fear for a single woman with no family and no one except a demon to would know if she was missing right now

Binh watched Ariel pause outside the doors of the secret Vampire blood bar. Hesitation. Binh tried to will Ariel to turn back. He would pick her up, take her away from here. She did not need to sell her body. Binh would give her anything she needed, her mates would do the same he knew without asking or knowing them. She did not need to try and do everything alone.

She still felt she needed to be her own support and back up. Entering the maw of the beasts. A few moments after she had entered, Three Hours Past Midnight burst into Binh's mind through the dream world. Letting him know that she was only doing this because she felt Binh had been too generous. She did not like feeling like she had debt.

The raven and Binh wanted to scream in frustration together. Ariel did not need to place herself in danger like this. Garnet was outside of Binh's warding spell, meaning the pups could also find her here. Along with any number of the more seedy citizens of the city who would certainly be alerted to what Ariel was, being available at the vampire bar tonight. Innumerable beings would be able to connect the dots that such a prize should have already been locked down, kept away from such places.

Her unneeded guilt resulting from Binh taking care of her, was going to alert all dark entities in the city that she was here. They would come. Try to exploit her. Those she was running from could even be included in those who would hear the gossip as it burned through the city. Making it much harder for Binh to continue to ensure her safety. He still, would not stop her. She was free to make her choices.

Ariel was trying to follow her moral code. Live independently. Binh, thanks to her familiar could see all the parts of her story. Helping him better understand who she was and where she was mentally. No wonder Three Hours Past Midnight was so frustrated all the time. She was maddeningly ill equipped to protect herself from dangers.

Binh checked his phone, the alert came through minutes after she had entered the establishment that there was a special auction tonight. Making Binh aware that she had been here once already, and had been sped through the registration process this time.

Once he was certain she would be on the bar floor, being treated like a princess and given any drink or snack she desired to keep her there. An attendant to ensure she felt comfortable. Garnet would get a significant cut of the final price paid. It was now in everyone's best interests to drive her price as high as possible.