Angels

A small, independently run bar in the Jericho area, Angels has a comfortable atmosphere with cocktails that you won’t find anywhere else, along with twists on classics.

Michael's mind had gone into panic mode when Claire mentioned drinking blood in front of her friends. His sire had drilled into him the importance of maintaining the Masquerade at all cost. It was, he understood, one of the few laws the diverse multitude of vampires actually agreed on and lethally enforced. However, sitting in the fancy Angels bar, he relaxes a little. Liam surely knows what he is doing, and some vampires have the power to control what others think and do. Something about that nags at the back of Michael's mind, but he ignores it.  He had quickly gotten them off the topic of vampires and on to telling him the fun things to do in Oxford and laughing at his Canadian accent. He drinks a dark and pleasant ale and hopes Liam will arrive soon and deal with the situation. Although, despite his hesitation, he finds he is enjoying himself and the banter.

One of the students, a mousey little thing named Emily is sat besides Michael. "What's it like? Being, you know, a vampire ?" She whispers with a giggle.

Michael grins at Emily and says, "I imagine it would be cool, being super strong and fast, an immortal, able to fly through the night and turn to mist ... a touch of horror ... a touch of sensuality ... but I'm afraid that I don't know anything beyond what I've seen in 'Interview with a Vampire' and the Dracula movies. The pale complexion and nocturnal habits come from long winters, too many years at university, and, worst of all, hanging out with the other sociology students. I did my doctoral thesis on the sociology of organized crime, so I went to a lot of dark places, but any bloodletting was done with weapons, not teeth." He looks at her intently, "But tell me about yourself. What interests you?"

Emily blinks as though this was not what she was expecting to hear. "Books, mostly," she giggles. "The romantic and the gothic... stuff like Wilde and Hoffmann. What about you?"

Liam walks into the bar, catches the eyes of those at the table and calmly walks over to joing them. "So, what'd I miss?" He grins around the table. "Gotta be honest, you took me by surprise, might not have all night t'spend with you all, but who needs a drink?"

Michael's mind fumbles. Wilde. Oscar Wilde? He had read something by Wilde years ago but couldn't remember what it was. And Hoffmann sounded like an actor. Gothic and Romance just weren't his genres. "I mostly read sci-fi and fantasy, and I've been on a cyberpunk kick recently. I haven't read much Gothic, but if you could recommend a book, I'll check it out." Where the hell is Liam? And thinking of the devil, there he is, approaching the table. And damn, is he charismatic. Everyone just turns to watch him, the natural center of attention.  Michael relaxes. Now Liam can take on the responsibility of being social, and Michael can fade into the background and the shadows, where he prefers to be. And Liam can fix this breach of the Mascarade before it gets them killed.  "Hey, Liam. You didn't miss much. The party's waiting for you to get started."

Liam pops to the bar and soon returns with a tray of shots and bottles of beer. He sits back in the seat quietly watching the mortals, waiting for them to break the silence.

"You could try The Golden Pot ," Emily ventures, "or The Picture of Dorian Gray ... they just made a movie about that one!" Claire is already all over Liam on his way back from the bar. "Did you take care of your business?" She asks, toying with the buttons of his shirt.

Liam grins, despite the pressure he is under he will never be tired of the effects of his charm. "Business is never over, but fer tonight we can enjoy ourselves a little. Tomorrow is t'be another busy day though." He passes the shots around to Claire's friends, encouraging them to drink. "So, tell me about yer friends here. What do they do an' why were you so keen to share my attention with them? They must be pretty special?" He fixes Claire with his gaze.

"Are you kidding?" Claire laughs throwing back a shot. "Vampires are real and you think that I'm not going to tell anybody? This lot are just the ones with the guts to come see."

"You shouldn't have done that." Liam shakes his head. "I could have given you endless pleasure and gifts beyond measure. But now you'll have to make a choice, and lots of people will think you're crazy."

Claire gives Liam a blasé shrug. "They think that already. At least this is interesting."

Liam smirks. "Ok, so you're a bored thrill seeker looking for something to spice up your boring life?" There's no accusation in the tone, just curiosity. "And you're willing to take your life into your hands for a bit if a kick. Tell me, who here might be useful to me. Someone brave, strong and smart."

"That depends on what you need," Claire tells Liam with a wink. "George over there is certainly strong and macho enough to demonstrate a stubbornness that most would consider brave. Smart enough to have won his place here, although I would put that more down to his schooling than his wits." She smiles sweetly at Liam and sucks on her straw.

"Well it depends on who you want on your team. One of your friends here will help you to carry out a task, for a very special reward. The others will think you are crazy and probably never speak to you again. Your task will be mentally and physically difficult and very dangerous. Are you interested?" He leans forward, eyeing her seductively. 

Claire frowns. "You asked who might be useful to you . Is this my team or yours?"

Liam smirks. "Can it not be both?" He grins. "You are doing a job for me, but it's you who could get something from this, and you who knows these people so I'm letting you choose your partner. You have a lot riding on this afterall." Liam winks.

"What does this 'job' call for, then?" Claire asks impatiently. "Not everyone is equally useful."

"A bit of a monster hunt, the details are down to you, but could be some fire or destruction involved. But if you succeed, what you felt last night will just be the beginning, you could have several lifetimes of more and you'll never be bored again."

"What kind of monster?" Claire asks, her interest clearly piqued. "Sounds like I'll need some muscle, so George is still in the running."

Liam shrugs. "Depends how you play it. I would try to introduce fire and daylight to the situation and stay out of sight. If you don't like George I can find you a stronger partner." Liam checks his blackberry to see if last night's email had born fruit yet.

"You're sending us after another  vampire ?" Claire demands with a quietly incredulous gasp. For the first time this evening, she seems shocked.

Liam smirks. "You wanted something to liven up your day. Or do you just like the idea of danger? If so we can go back, I'll do things to you these Freshers can only dream of and you can convince yourself I'm some dangerous monster if that's what gets you going."

Claire leans in close to Liam, her fingers toying with the buttons of his shirt. "Why not both?"

"Both works for me." Liam detangles himself slightly. "So you want to pick your partner, or would you prefer I give you someone with a proven background? I'd like to send some of these home."

Claire frowns when Liam mentions getting rid of the others. "They'll keep coming back you know. If not them, then somebody else from the group."

Michael realizes he has been ignoring Emily as he watches Liam and tries to figure out what he is doing to fix this mess before it gets even more out of hand.  He turns back to her and says, "Sorry. Liam has a way of drawing people's attention. Now you mention it; I did read Dorian Grey. I enjoyed the story, but I couldn't figure out why Grey didn't just let the painting continue to absorb his sins and live the life of a hedonistic immortal. I will look for The Golden Pot, though." Michael types quickly on his phone. "Oh. This is from a little before my time. But I now have a copy here," he shakes his phone, "and I will let you know what I think." He looks at her questioningly. "Is there some way to get in touch with you when I'm finished?"  

Liam shrugs. "Make your choice, one of them, or a high calibre teammate of my choosing? Then you will go to the bathroom you've had a lot to drink. Let me worry about the rest."

Emily smiles coyly and gives Michael her phone number. "Tell me about this 'high calibre' teammate," Claire asks Liam, her eyes intrigued as she sips at her drink.

Liam smiles, "I can't tell you all my methods. I wouldn't be dangerous if you knew all my secrets would I? They would be an athlete with enough credentials to make George there look like he just got out of nappies, and someone who got to this university on academic merit. The question is, do you want a friend in this with you, or someone more qualified."

"Oh please ," Claire scoffs after ensuring that George is not within earshot. "Friend is a stretch. He probably keeps a cardboard cutout of David Cameron in his college room. Hook me up."

Liam smirks, pushes her hands off him and gives a quick wink. "Now go to the bathroom, look a little out out if you can." Waiting for her to get up and leave he turns to the others. "Look, let's get this out in the open. I know you have some strange fantasy here, but I hate to break it to you, vampires aren't real. They are a construct based on a social need to explain away nasty events. Yesterday, there was a lot of drugs involved, and what I'm guessing must have been Claire's first orgasm, which her coked up head took to be something supernatural. So there it is, I'm afraid I'm nothing as interesting as you all hoped."

Michael relaxes a little as soon as he sees that Liam is fixing the break in the Mascarade. Not that Michael would have mentioned Claire's sexual activity to her friends. That crossed some sort of line for anyone, and worse as a professor in a position of trust and power, who also effectively admitted to using drugs. Granted, who was he to judge when he had connections with organized crime, engaged in corporate hacking, and was a blood-sucking creature of the night. Nonchalantly, Michael tries to see if any of the students are recording this on their phones. That would be bad news for his friend.

"Uhm, Professor McCarthy," George interjects, "I understand that that's what you have to tell us, but what about the Facebook group?"

Liam fixes George with a stare. "What Facebook group?"

George takes out his phone and pulls up Facebook, navigating to a private group page entitled 'Liam McCarthy Vampire Playboy', which he shows to Liam. A cult following seems to have developed online, keeping track of Liam's appearances and generally deifying him. A couple of the others sat at the table shake their heads and raise their hands to their faces when George lets the cat out of the bag.

Liam scans the page, looking for the admin of the group, the creation date and any obvious members who stick out as posting regularly on there. He raises an eyebrow. "And other than me being a talented musician and enjoying a party, what does this have to do with some crazy, obviously mythological story about me? I truly am sorry to disappoint some fans, come for the legend, but stay for the music eh?"

Michael had been about to get up and deal with the students recording under the table with their phones, but at the mention of the Facebook group, he decides to wait and see how this develops. He carefully identifies each recording student to deal with later, though.   The Facebook group should be easy to hack and remove. If the group is public, other vampires, some X-Files-like government agency, or even vampire hunters, could see it. The sooner they can get the group off the Internet, the better. This shows why the Mehkat way of hiding in the shadows is so much better.

The group's admin appears to be a black woman named 'Akasha' and the group is only four days old, but growing fast. The contributors seem to be a broad mix of students, posting photos from the recent performances at New College, Brasenose and Baby Love. Nevertheless, some of the students begin to glance at one another, obviously less sure of themselves now that the man himself is in front of them.

Liam shakes his head as he continues to scroll through, finding older posts and pictures of old year books. "Really fanciful, but an incredible example of how the human mind behaves when convinced of something. Oh, and my great grandfather and I are the same person." He chuckles. "So do any of you have anything sensible to say?"

"It's disappointing," Emily sighs, "but then I suppose that you'll just have to explain the ethics of your conduct to the vice chancellor as a mortal man. During the day."

Liam raises an eyebrow. "During the day? So you still believe these myths? And what exactly about my conduct? Are you making a threat to a college professor, out of disappointment that your fantasy isn't true? What precisely are you after here? You want proof? Watch me eat garlic? Hold a crucifix? Cross the river? Cut me and see if I bleed?"

"I'm not making any threats," Emily remarks lightly, "I'm not the one who sent the email."

"Ok, out with it then. What are you talking about?"

"Some of the group's members took issue with your conduct and forwarded the evidence to the vice-chancellor."

Liam taps his chin, looking around the room. "Interesting, a group of Oxford students sent an email about themselves and their fellow students taking class A drugs in their halls of residence? I thought the university had higher entry standards than that." He shrugs. "Well, so be it. I will look forward to his email and our discussion on the topic, particularly how I'm apparently being stalked on social media now and in my own college. I'd let you know how it goes, but in all likelihood you will be gone long before me, it takes far less time to remove a student than a professor. Was there anything else, or is this party over?"

"I don't expect that any of them are in the videos," Emily notes. "I'm certainly not. Or were you threatening me , professor?"

Liam laughs and waves his hands.. "No, no, you all seem lovely. But you are smart people and you must see this is all nut job level crazy. And whilst it's all funny and a bit of fun now, if it starts to be taken against my career it goes from conspiracy theorists to stalking, harassment and slander. So, some advice, get out of that crazy group. Those videos show me performing at parties, there is nothing there that can hurt me, but a lot of evidence of obsessing and plotting which could get anybody involved kicked out or worse."

There's some nodding and murmuring from one to another and then a couple get up to leave. Another quickly joins and then George and Emily glance at each other, shrug and reach for their coats.

"Thank you Emily," Liam reaches out with a finger towards her, *I appreciate the candour, and the heads up." He glanced over at George too.  "I hope I do see you both at my next gig, maybe just join my fan group rather than that crazy cess pool though eh?"