Gore: Winterwidow

Chapter 6: Brew

James couldn't remember the last time he had ever been on a real "date". Usually his business was luring the imbeciles who would listen, away from the bars they resided in and to his penthouse, giving them the illusion that it was about to become a very luxurious night indeed. Instead, he'd snap their necks and drain their bodies of blood, consuming the vile liquid before disposing of them and covering up his tracks.

But today was different. This time, he had no intention of killing Lanna- at least not yet, anyways. He'd most likely dispose of her only if he needed to. There were seven billion other skin sacks just like her in this god-forsaken planet so it wouldn't be that hard to find a replacement for someone like her at work.

The vampire trudged through the snow with his white hands deep in his pockets. He hated Starbucks and he could already smell the pungent odor from here. If there was anything he hated more than gross blood, it was coffee. He didn't understand how humans would like the stuff! It was just ground up dirt in a can!

He supposed he didn't know much about human likes, and he knew even less about dates. He had cleaned himself up a tiny bit; shaving the stubble from his cheeks to give him a less ruggedly handsome look and more of a proper man. He hadn't bothered to slick down the spikes, thinking it would be too far from his true character to do so and he put on a black button down with a maroon dress vest on top of it. The first two buttons of each layer were undone to have a more careless heir about himself and again a black velvety overcoat on the top. He was wearing ink black slacks with shoes to match and thought that he was ready enough.

The vampire braced himself as he stepped inside the vile restaurant, inhaling the putrid, choking scent of coffee beans and caramels. It was sickening. He could sense some eyes on him as he shook off his shoes and prodded his prominent canines with his tongue as if to reassure himself that they were still there. His crimson eyes swept the room until he spotted Lanna, who looked up and waved to him with a beaming smile. Better get this waste of time over with.

James gave her a slight curl of the lip as he moved over and sat down across from her. She was definitely wearing more makeup and her hair was down and curled. Her heart shaped face was colored with red as she took him all done up and it made the vampire feel slightly guilty that he was just using her to get to Natasha. Not bad enough to call this off, of course.

Her salmon colored fleece overcoat gave the vampire an overall sense of girliness- something that he knew Natasha would never wear, but he accepted it and removed his own coat, feeling hot and stuffy in this ridiculous atmosphere.

"I'm so glad you could make it! I hope it wasn't too much trouble getting here through the snow," the ravenette laughed nervously. James's crimson eyes met hers for a split second then they traveled down to the menu that was sitting in front of him. What could he get that wouldn't make him sick? Water??

"You don't need to hassle yourself, Lanna. It was a nice change of scenery for me to have something to do after work, no matter how meaningless it is- not that I am saying this meeting is meaningless, I just mean overall it's not what I- Gah..." The vampire huffed and shook his head as he fell all over his words, burying his face into the menu to hide his furious embarrassment. He was surprised when he heard a giggle from the other side.

"Oh James, I know you don't like me all that much. Sure Steve told me you did at one point, but I can tell by the way you look and act that you really don't." Lanna fiddled with her hair slightly and looked back to the vampire, seemingly unafraid. "It's okay... I just always thought you deserved a chance to prove that you're better than what everyone else thinks..."

James slowly lowered the menu to gaze at his date across the table curiously. What she said pummeled him with guilt now, but he'd never admit it. He sighed heavily as she seemed to lose whatever confidence she had and looked down at the table instead of into his eyes. He knew he should put on a better act and fix this if he was going to get Natasha's attention, so he reached across the table to take her hands and put himself into full "heartbreak" mode.