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"Thank you." Stepping past Devonte, Alfons proceeds to the bar. "Barkeep. A pint of Lager. Schnell!" Receiving his pint, he downs half of it in one gulp. "Now to wait for Zeledon to find me," he thinks.

---

On his fourth scan of the room, Jamie notices a man walk in. Looking over his sunglasses, he realizes it's Goldschmidt. "Excuse me," he whispers to the orchestra members around him. Fumbling his way out of the orchestra box, Jamie manages to meet Goldschmidt at the bar. "It's about time you got here you sonuva--"
*SMACK* "OW! Why'd you hit me with your cane?!"
"You should remember to keep your place. Insult me again, and you'll never see the info I told you about." Alfons then finishes his lager. "Barkeep. Another pint." Turning to Zeledon, he says, "Besides, this is a party. You should try to enjoy yourself."
"Right. We can do business later. Bartender, scotch on the rocks."
"That's the spirit. I'm going to go and mingle for a bit." Alfons walks towards the other guests, leaving Jamie behind.

"Danke, und in der Tat*. Your Deutsch is nice, albeit accented." Alfons takes a swig of the lager. "So what brings a nice Russian girl like you to this dim Waltz?" He eyed the vampire, attempting to analyze her motives.


Meanwhile, at the other end of the bar, Jamie was silently scanning the room. "This place gives me the creeps." He thought as something caught his eye. "A Dark Elf?!" Clearly referring to Twi. "If he's connected to the Kuro Gang, I could be in deep s**t." He took another gulp of his scotch in an attempt to settle his nerves. Jamie then heads back to the orchestra box to grab his violin case and guitar.



---
*Thanks, and indeed.

Scarlet sighed contentedly as she opened her eyes. Only Sam was left in the parlor. Apparently Twi had slipped out for his own reasons. She was used to that sort of thing. It was probably time she start acting like a proper hostess anyway.

"Well, Sam, my darling, should we rejoin our guests?" she asked ash she stood and shook out her skirts, inspecting her clothing for any distressing drops of blood.

"yes, lets." replied Sam to Scarlet with a smile, and he gethered his things, giving Mizu a kiss on the cheek and thanking her before following the hostess back to the party.

Twi smirked, and bowed to Jamie. "i couldn't help but notice you looking at me, and i thought you looked familiar." he lied.

"tell me, have we met before? was it in Law School?" he asked. "i never did finish college, i went away to persue other goals." he said.

Back in the ballroom, Scarlet surveyed her little party. Friends from all walks of life and un-life seemed to be having a wonderful time dancing, drinking, and cavorting. She inhaled deeply, gathering information with her keen senses. She smelled blood, of course, a variety of flavors coursing safely through pounding hearts. She could smell fear, excitement, arousal and...oh dear. Scarlet's eyes found one of her consensual donors, flirting with a short man who was all too enamored with the endowments currently at his eye-level. Nenetl was slim with cinnamon skin and auburn hair, an exotic beauty by any standards. She was a law student from Argentina that Scarlet was sponsoring...And she was pregnant.

Scarlet found Devonte near the door. "I need you to excuse Nenetl from her conversation. She's leaving in the morning and needs to pack," she said, her ruby lips tight with anger. Devonte just nodded and left his sister to wait by the door for more guests.

Scarlet would have dismissed Nenetl herself, except that she was so angry at the girl that any sort of confrontation would likely have sent her into a rage. Scarlet when to a great deal of trouble to find young, strong, healthy donors, and made--what she felt--were simple stipulations for her continued sponsorship: no drugs, no sex, and definitely no pregnancies. Considering how powerful Scarlet was, she didn't need to get consent from any of her prey. The fact that she had granted every one of her donors an immense personal favor, and that they would break the contract... If she had not slaked the worst of her thirst with a small taste of fresh blood earlier, she might have drained the girl right then and there.

Scarlet stood, brooding, her eyes narrow and dangerous, her hands balled into fists at her sides, her manicured nails biting into her palms. She radiated fury. It was all she could do to stay in one place.

"My father knew the two holding the ball. He always told me they were macabre people, and I do love the macabre. Also, I have 'business' with the man in the black zoot suit." He gestured toward Jamie, and realized that he was talking to a Dark Elf. Alfons's stoic face melted into a brief "Oh crap" moment, but was soon replaced with a face of relief as he recalled hearing that that particular Elf was no longer in the mob. He turned back to the lovely Vampire. "Now then. I believe you've been trying to pull some information from me; I should warn you that I have contacts and associates that can ruin your life. Proceed cautiously." He grinned, while thinking, "If I know my brother, he'll send 'Vinny' soon. I must get back to Zeledon."

confused "Scheiße," Alfons muttered. Composing himself, he spoke softly enough that only Cassandra and he could hear, "If you must know, 'Vinny' is my brother's attack dog, so to speak. Anyone he wants dealt with has this hit-man sent after them." He took a gulp of lager. "My brother runs a small Crime Syndicate in Aekea. He tried Durem, but the Kuro Gang wouldn't have anything to do with him until recently." He made a quick glance back at Jamie. "Mr. Zeledon over there's a G-man; a government investigator. He's been undercover in the Syndicate, hoping to put away my brother." Alfons stopped for a moment to reach into his tailcoat, pulling out a booklet. "There's no way to tie my brother to the crimes his goons commit, but we can put him away with this." He set it down on the bar. "This is his accounting book. My brother was never good at finances, so he had me keep track of everything he made 'doing business.' The man never pays his taxes; he'll be arrested for tax evasion, just like Al Capone was."