Removing the Stone
Leah's heels clicked against the stone pavers, her hair done up and wearing one of her more elegant dresses as she weaved through the maze of tables, chairs, and people in search of a certain demon that could be the answer to her recent dilemma.  Darian's smarmy assistant, Phillip, had told her that the demon would be at this restaurant at this time.  The little fucker had even tried to cop a feel when the hybrid, still somewhat hung over from the activities of the night before, had come looking for the Dealmaker.  

Phillip had a broken foot from where her heel had expertly landed, and was on Leah's list of men to drain down to their last bit of energy when the opportunity arose.  She was the one who decided who touched her, no matter how good looking the guy was.

She spotted the Dealmaker sitting at a back table, impeccably dressed as always without a hair out of place, a cup of some beverage at his lips.  Struck by the image, Leah suddenly felt as if she'd fallen into a Mafia movie: the needy client approaching the Don in supplication.  Be my friend...Godfather?

"Good evening Darian, may I join you?" Leah asked as she slid into the seat opposite the demon.  She needed his help to get out of the mess she'd put herself in, and wasn't going to leave until she got it.

Across from her, Darian waxed sardonic. “It seems you already have.” It wasn’t as if he minded the mild intrusion of the half-succubus. She, like the other women with whom he spent occasional time, had something unique or mysterious about her. In Leah’s case, an ancient heritage based in demon lore made her interesting to him. He put the cup down with precision-- each time exactly into the ring it had occupied before. Once his hands were free, he clasped them loosely on the table.

She looked lovely. At other times, she’d been in costume in his presence or bundled for winter weather. There was a noticeable bronzing on her shoulders that didn’t appear manufactured. He noticed it and his mouth quirked. “Nice tan, by the way. You must’ve taken some vacation.”

"Funny you should mention it," Leah tilted her head and eyed Darian speculatively; he certainly would have had the power to send Vicky and her back in time, from what she'd heard about him. "I did have a little unplanned Hawaiian vacation...1941 Hawaii."  The trauma of the attack on Pearl Harbor had faded somewhat, and she preferred to focus on the fun times she and the then human Vicky had enjoyed while there.  "I've made a point to keep it up, and expand it a bit since I've come back...authorities could be so picky about what you wore or didn't wear when trying to get a tan.  You would think being an island paradise that they would be more open about that sort of thing but..." the hybrid shrugged and then her expression sobered.

"Darian...you know there's all kinds of stuff I'd like to talk to you about..." Or do to you. He was a very handsome specimen, but as far as she knew he was completely uninterested in her.  His loss.   "...But I'm actually here to see you in your professional capacity.  Phillip told me where to find you, and he's probably going to have trouble walking for a few weeks.  He's lucky I didn't drain him dry for the little stunt he tried to pull."  

Ok, so maybe she'd overreacted a little, but she just hadn't been in the mood to deal with another horny male when she was sated and on a mission.

Darian leaned back in his chair. Beside him, an unwrapped linen revealed a set of cutlery. He swiveled a fork between steady fingers and wondered, given the pointed look Leah directed his way, if she knew who had done the sending. Few things surprised him, but a revelation that Erato had let the cat out of the bag would do the trick.

After all, he had practically sold his client down the river to make the deal with the Lamia. If Leah began to speculate about it aloud -- say, by wagging her tongue to Victoria -- then there was a good chance word would spread farther amongst their circle. Say, to Deanna. Or Bethany. That would be interesting.

He took the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger and began to rub.

Women.

Erato would have to be questioned later. For now, he carried on as if the wheels in his head weren’t turning a mile a minute. “Allow me to apologize for Phillip. He’s an irrepressible lecher. If you saw the rest of him, you’d understand why.” Darian tapped the fork against the tablecloth. “What can I do for you... In a professional capacity?”

Leah pondered how to explain everything without speaking Elfleda's name.  She wasn't absolutely certain that the Corruptress would know if someone was talking about her when her name was spoken, but she didn't want to chance it.  For all she knew, Elfleda could be reading her thoughts even now and it was pointless to try and play a game about it.  But she'd try anyway.

The hybrid squirmed in her seat for just a moment, a bit nervous about doing what she was about to do.  She took a breath and plunged in.  "Have you ever agreed to do something, thinking that it wouldn't harm someone, and then see it blow up in your face?" she asked, more rhetorically than anything else.  She doubted that this demon in front of her had ever experienced such a thing; he was far too smooth for that.  Or if he had, she doubted he felt any remorse.  "That's what happened to me.  I was thinking...well, let’s just say I wasn't thinking too clearly when I agreed to do what I did."

She toyed with the napkin in front of her.  "I put a stone in Vicky's office, as a favor to someone who... made me an offer I couldn't refuse, say.  Ever since then, Vicky's been turning into something twisted and sadistic.  It's a mockery of what she is and it’s all my fault. She's going to lose everything if I can't find a way to get rid of the stone.  The problem is... well, two problems really."  Her words were becoming more and more rushed and the linen steadily distorted.  "The first problem is getting in and out alive. I think if Vicky caught me in her office she'd turn me like she almost did last night.  The second, if I made it out still breathing and able to walk around in the daylight, is the... person... I did the favor for.  They wouldn't like it, and I don't want them pissed off at me.  I don't even want to think about what she could do to me."

The hybrid did think about it, for a split second, and shivered.

There were untold legions of demonic creatures, terrifying monsters, and black-hearted witches in this universe. What the succubus described could’ve been attributed to many of them. But only one trafficked Las Vegas frequently, turning generally docile people into twisted versions of themselves. Darian’s own malevolent behavior was, in part, a product of Elfleda’s tinkering around where she wasn’t invited.

Plus, the woman had a thing for stones. Something to ponder later.

So to guess, from Leah’s nervous rambling, that she was talking about Leviathan’s Bride wasn’t much of a leap. Darian eyed the succubus’s shifting posture and spoke up. “I wouldn’t worry about what she could do. The question is what she would do, and it doesn’t amount to much.” He paused to take a sip from his cup, and it might’ve seemed as if he was finished. But on the subject of Elfleda, the Dealmaker was hardly taciturn. He had his reasons.

“She’s more bark than bite, Leah. I could count on two hands the cases of physical harm I recall her causing around here. It isn’t out of mercy. She’d simply much rather use you for her own devices...” He put the fork down. “Which you’ve undoubtedly discovered, watching your friend‘s... should we call them antics?”

Darian put it bluntly, as he was wont to do. “I’m not afraid of pissing her off, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Leah looked at him dubiously. In her own experiences with Elfleda, the Corruptress had seemed pretty powerful to Leah.  But Darian was definitely more experienced than her; it could be he knew something she didn't.

Still... even if she wouldn't suffer any blowback from Elfleda, there was still the little matter of getting in and out of Fang Noir alive, something she wasn't sure she could do anymore.

"Okay... you know more about her than I do, obviously.  I still don't think I could get to the stone and not turn into a night person.  Would you be willing to get the stone and destroy it? Name your price."  She had money now thanks to him, and if she had to give some of that up to help her friend, then she'd do it.   There was only one other person she'd be willing to give up her nest egg for, and Erato likely would never have a need for her to do so.   If he wanted something other than money, well, she'd just have to see what that was.

Darian considered his options.

Retrieval of the stone would be relatively simple, provided Victoria hadn’t found and moved it since Leah placed the object in her office, and also provided there wasn’t some mystical barrier in place to keep him out. Breaching the security system of Wolfram and Hart had been remarkably easy, even out of his mind; he simply walked into the midst of the building by way of... well... metaphysical teleportation. On a business venture, that was accomplished with meager cost to him.

The Corruptress could have the stone under surveillance. But as many of those as she passed out, he doubted it. If he was wrong, so be it. She had a way of eventually finding those things out anyway.

“Alright,” he agreed, and paused while the water filled a glass of water for Leah. Before the man could ask for an order, Darian stalled him with a raised finger. The waiter shuffled away for a few moments more. “I’ll remove the stone. As for a price... I want two things.” If ever there was a time to capitalize on paranoia, he figured it was now. “Only fair, considering the likely reprimand I’ll receive for interfering with the Bride’s never-ending puppet show. One,“ he pointed his finger at the tablecloth, “No matter what you suspect, keep your mouth closed about how you arrived in Hawaii. Two, we’ll call an IOU. I’m sure your talents will come in handy at one point or another. Do we have a deal?”


[Thread: Open to Leah and Darian]