2015.09.12 - Snot Demon Aftermath

*After the battle with the snot demon, Spike takes the others back to the Hyperion Hotel.*

September 11, 2015

Hyperion Hotel, San Francisco

The Hyperion Hotel - Angel Investigations

Nightfall is usually the time when the Hyperion Hotel comes alive. There's a sign outside that reads 'Angel Investigations', but the hotel still serves as a refuge - a place to stay, to plan, to recoup, etc - even if it also serves as a base of operations as well.

At this moment, people are coming and going through the lobby and up the stairs - and by 'people' one means an assortment of humans, demons, magi, and other paranormals... either seeking help, or offering it. Very few of the paranormals are vampires, if any.

Spike waves his new 'associates' inside, and points toward the bar on the ground floor. There's a woman there serving drinks - human, but 'in the know' - and he blows her a kiss as he passes by. "Right. Get yourselves settled - order whatever you like. I need to see a guy about a thing..." and with that, the vampire heads upstairs.

To say that Mick is amazed is...again, an understatement. *Where was the off-ramp that said 'The Twilight Zone', exactly? Because I'm pretty sure I must have taken a turn somewhere. This place looks like it'd be great in a horror movie. Or a TV show.* He sets Lucas down and looks around. This whole thing is bizarre, to say the least. But since nobody else in the building is weirded out by this....he assumes it's safe.

Lucas Troy stays asleep for a while, which is likely un nerving as he doesn't even project in his sleep like he normally does, too tired. But about the time they get in the hotel he's stirring. He's a light thing hardly a heavy load for a normal adult much less a human. He groans a bit, "You okay cuz?" He asks and blinks, "Did the spells work? I haven't actually used it before."

River Troy looks around in wide-eyed, jaw-dropped awe, barely remembering to breathe, as he follows Mick into the bar area. "I've never seen so many demons before," he whispers, shivering a bit. When Lucas begins to come around, River is right there at his side, voice filled with concern again. "I think it worked, yeah. Are you okay? Fainting is never a good sign. You need a positive affirmation, so repeat after me: I have the power and strength and knowledge to handle everything in my life." He gives a small grin again, glancing at the bartender. "Could we get maybe a glass of water, please?"

Lucas Troy rolls his eyes and sits up a bit, "Dude you do remember you're an actual witch not just a practioner right? You don't have to be so... hippy." He groans and shakes his head, "Magic is a muscle like everythign else, and I just abused the hell out of mine. Imagine you just orbed 50 times in 2 minutes... That's kinda what I feel like." He looks over at the bar tender, "Strawberry banana smoothie?"

*Well, when in Rome....*"A Positive." Mick says. Seriously, she probably serves bottled blood or something, right? Then he turns to the Troys. "So...someone wanna tell me what the hell I just walked in on?"

River Troy gives Lucas a little pout. "Positive affirmations never hurt," he says softly, sticking out his lower lip. But when his cousin asks for a smoothie, River's eyes suddenly light. "May I have a beer?" he asks hopefully, widening his big, blue eyes in an attempt to look as irresistibly adorable as possible. Unfortunately, all it really does is make him look as young as he actually is, certainly not old enough to be drinking beer legally. He gives Mick a small shrug of one shoulder, saying casually, "Your guess is as good as mine. I just wanted to see a band play, had no idea a giant demon was gonna attack. Good thing you and that Spike guy were there though, right?"

Lucas Troy rolls his eyes again, "Yeah it’s not like I did 75% of the work or anything." He was groaning again, after all he incased the thing paralyzed it and erased the evidence. HE was feeling a little surly, eh maybe puberty was finally winning over Tai Chi? HE takes a few breath and then tries not to giggle as, he's served a Smoothie, Mick is served... something that Lucas is pretty sure he Doesn't want to know about, and River is served a beer, a root beer.

"Yeah, well, demons are a little outside my realm of knowledge. Up till today, never encountered one before." Mick says, drinking the glass of blood he's been served. "Ditto with magic. or at least any magic like what I just saw you boys using."

"Yeah, well, demons are a little outside my realm of knowledge. Up till today, never encountered one before." Mick says, drinking the glass of blood he's been served. "Ditto with magic. or at least any magic like what I just saw you boys using."

River Troy turns several shades of green before going entirely pale, as he stares at the glass Mick is drinking from. Starting to shiver, he completely ignores the root beer placed before him and just gapes for a long, silent time, though every now and then, his eyes dart over to Lucas in a silent *What is this guy?* manner.

Lucas Troy shrugs and says in his simple rather straight forward manner, "I'm guessing he's a vampire of some sort? Not any variety I've ever read about." He slurps on his own drink that likely looks a little too close to what Mick is drinking for most, "All I know is he helped he drug me here, and he isn't trying to hurt us. So until he does he's a friend." He shrugs and keeps sucking on his smoothie.

From up the stairs a familiar voice can be heard in an exasperated, sardonic rant:

"Y'know what, Peaches? Sod off. Sod. Off. Some bloody Champion I'd be if I left them - well at least I didn't get the buggers killed, did I? - Hello? Hello? Bugger!"

What follows is a series of growls and snarls that sound not unlike the sounds the Fyarl demon was making (before a silver stake made scrambled eggs of its brain-matter), as Spike appears at the top of the stairs - *stalking* his way down. He spots the two witches and the vampire over by the bar and heads in their direction.

"The usual," he tells the barkeep as he walks by, and collects a mug of thick, dark liquid - warm and steaming. By the time he reaches the Troys and Mick, he is already drinking hastily from the mug. When he lowers it from his mouth, he has a 'milk moustache'...

...except that it is bright red.

"How're you bites doing then?" he asks of River and Lucas - and gives Mick a knowing look.

That catches Mick's attention. "Not any variety you've ever read about?" He gives the boy a curious look. "Okay that one I need some elaboration on." Then he hears all the yelling and growling and the like. "....Starting to get the idea." he amends. "But I still want some explanation. You damn well don't smell like any Vamp I've ever met."

River Troy gulps audibly, still staring at Mick, at least until Spike reappears. Then suddenly, River's expression changes entirely, color returning to his cheeks. "Hi!" he says cheerfully, breath catching in his throat. Even the red blood-moustache doesn't seem to break through the dreamy look in River's eyes as he lets out a small sigh. His fingers begin twitching against the bartop, and if anyone is musically inclined at all, they might realize he's 'playing' an invisible keyboard as he stares enraptured at Spike.

Lucas Troy groans and looks at Spike first, "If you're thinking of having me for a snack wanna wait a few minutes and I can push you into the basement? Marble is a lot easier to deal with that concrete and bricks" He looks over at River, normally he'd hit him with some empathy, but he's too tired so instead he says plainly, "You do realize your current crush is a vampire right?" He shrugs and is being pretty zen about all this. Of course he's already getting ready for trouble just in case.

The bleach-blond vampire has no qualms when it comes to being admired, and River's adoration is no exception. The man tucks in his chin, surprised - possibly *feigned* surprise - smirks and leans an elbow against the bartop, mug in one hand. Smirking roguishly, he licks the blood from his upper lip and takes another sip from his quarter-full mug.

"Well, you don't look too traumatised, anyway," he remarks blandly. "No one's screaming - I *hate* screaming." To Lucas, Spike shakes his head - but gives Mick a momentary glance as well. "That's not how we do it, kid," he attempts to reassure the teenager, and he drains his mug - which leaves just a spot of blood unnoticed at the corner of his mouth.

He shows the more-or-less-empty mug to the two kids.

"See? Pig's blood. With a dash of - well, that's not your business." Putting the mug on the bartop, Spike regards all three of the newcomers (to the hotel) evenly. "Yes, I'm a vampire - a bloody vampire." He deliberately does not address Mick's status as the same, if a different breed maybe. "But it's fine. You're safe." And he taps his chest. "I got me a soul."

"....Which matters....why, exactly?" Mick asks, looking confused by that comment. "Everyone has a soul>" Then he looks around at the various demons and t he like. "....Maybe I should rephrase that...."

River Troy gasps as he watches Spike's tongue lap the blood off his upper lip, though he somehow manages to suppress the whimper that desperately wants to escape. But then the hot blond Brit is making his confession, and River pales again. "V-vampire?" he stammers, blinking his eyes widely again. Then he's quickly digging in his backpack, bringing out the tablet once more. "I solemnly swear...Oh, forgot to turn it off. Heh!" He glances sheepishly at Lucas, then begins tapping away at the screen. "Let's see, vampires. Ah, here we are." He reads the entry, then frowns, looking between Spike and Mick a few times. "But you don't look like vampires. Where's your queen? Are you sure you're vampires? I didn't even know demons could have souls."

Lucas Troy shakes his head, "Um River which book of shadows did you get that from? I think there are like 20 types or something? Some its a disease some its a race. Some have queens. Some have souls some don't. Just like there are a lot of different types of witches. Not all have white lighters, that's just our tradition. Some die in sunlight some just get a bad Sunburn." He shrugs. HE might not know about every type of demon,but he's read a lot. And talked to GrandMama. He keeps sipping his smoothie, "Speaking of white lighters..." HE glares at his cousin but doesn't say anything, "Techincally our tradition is the kill all evil type. But that's exhausting as long as you don't hurt any innocents or attack us we're cool." Again he's acting like the older one. Then again, other than sculpting and Tai Chi, he spends all his time in study. Actualy both of those are training with his powers... So yeah he spends pretty much all his time studying magic.

Spike grimaces and puts down the mug. Lifting both hands to either side of his face, he bows his head a little and rubs his temples in an expression of both pain and consternation. "Stop, stop. Bloody stop. You're giving me a headache!"

There is a pause.

Spike says nothing for a moment or two, still massages his temples, but eventually he holds forth one hand with a single finger raised. "First thing: not everything under the moon - or the sodding sun - has a soul. Humans do. Weres' do - except they stink like dogs. Them and their souls. Some vampires do; some don't. Some do, but aren't supposed to, and that's where I - you know what? Bollocks. What am I, a mythocreatology professor?"

Then he points at Lucas.

"There. What the kid said. Wait, what the f - " and he switches to an expletive in some demon language, " - is a 'White Lighter'? Poncy title." He snorts. "Angel'd love it. Oh. Angel's a he - I think - and he's a vamp, and this is his hotel. He's a good guy."

And with that he leans menacingly over toward the two witches. "But you tell him I said so and I'll make you into hors d'oeuvres." He is kidding. Mostly.

"You realize that if you try it I'll cut your head off before you know what hit you, right?" Mick says, sipping his a positive. "I got this thing about people who go after kids. Pisses me off like you wouldn't believe. Trust me. I came this close to killing my ex-wife when she tried."

River Troy gulps again, wide eyes on Spike for a long moment, like a deer caught in headlights. But then Mick speaks up, and River suddenly huffs indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am not a kid!" he insists. "I'll be sixteen next month, that's practically an adult!" He casts another glance at Spike, lips curling in a small, almost bashful grin, as he adds, "Age of consent in California is sixteen, ya know. I checked." Because of course he did. Somehow, he doesn't bat his eyes, but he does look at his tablet again, sweeping a finger over the screen. "Nope, I just have the one entry. I totally hafta update this thing when we get home." As for Whitelighters, he peeks at Lucas briefly, appearing just a little guilty, but makes no further comment.

Lucas Troy didn't say a word, he didn't need to he just drank his smoothie. Oh by the way, he Doesn't have to make big gestures to make his power work. As Spike would probably realize in a few seconds when he tries to walk, and he found his feet had sunch through the stone of the floor slowly without him realiing it. He was only an inch or so in, but it was clearly a warning. "River... We have a whole library of Book of shadows, in different cultures. Seriously do you know how many years you'd spend trying to put everything into one book? OR whatever that is?" He just sighs and looks up at Spike. "You gonna be good?"

Spike, still enjoying his little moment of feigned villainy, looks firstly at Mick - and then from him to River and Lucas - and then finally... down at his feet. He lets out a breath (not that he really needs to breathe), and pinches his lips together in something of a pout.

"Bollocks."

And so he stands back up again, hands raised - palms outward - in a placating gesture, before folding them across his chest. "The thing of it is," he tells Mick first of all as he taps himself in the chest with a single thumb. "We vampires who shouldn't have souls, but do? We're the good guys - as in, 'hey! I'm only kidding!'" He looks at Lucas.

"Put the floor back, kid. I don't bite people - I save them."

Finally, he addresses River. "So. You might want an updated version of your book. What with all the magical and paranormal bods getting yanked here... you'll probably want a SHELF of books. But I'm only just realising now, I don't know who any of you are - except you. River. I heard him say so." And he motions with his chin toward Lucas.

"Who are you?"

"....Yeah, I'm gonna need more than cliff's notes to cliff's notes of cliff's notes here. Cause I still don't get this whole 'soul' thing." Mick says. "And you might wanna tell us who you are before asking for our names, brit boy."

River Troy suddenly perks up again, fixing his dreamy eyes on Spike. "I'm River Troy!" he announces cheerfully. "And this is my cousin, Lucas. We're witches! Our family's been in San Francisco for generations, so all this weird magical displacement stuff is as confusing to us as it is for you." He pauses, glancing between Mick and Spike several times. "But you're both *good* vampires, right? I mean, you have souls, and you both fought that Fyral demon, and you're only drinking animal blood, so...." He steals a look toward Lucas. "There's good vampires, right? Please say there's good vampires."

Lucas Troy is busy for the moment putting the Stone back exactly the way it was, the grain the color everything perfect. So he doesn't respond right away. And even then he' stays mostly quiet, there now that he's rested he's back to himself. And once the floor is fixed, the other's likely notice a feeling of soothing contentment, atleast they do if they have souls and such. Anyone evil would likely not enjoy the feelings that River is putting out. "I think so. I'm cool with that. And I don't know much, but the cliffs notes is, something happened and yanked magical sources all over to other places, whole building towns people. Some of use stayed put others not so much. And Spike, as long as you're good we'll cool, you hurt my cousin... And well ... I can do a lot more than just make the floor move." Yep its a threat. The witch who is probably younger than Spikes underwear is threatening him. On the other hand most vampires are smart enough not to piss off a witch, it generally doesn't end well for anyone involved.

The bleach-blond, 'Billy Idol looking' vampires nods his head. For at least a moment, there is little of the usual cockiness to him as the floor releases his feet, and aside from the pout to his lips, he appears completely serious. He gives Lucas a silent nod, and there's a faint flash of... regret? for having startled the kids a bit more than he had intended. Perhaps.

Shifting his position finally, Spike leans his back against the bartop, arching his torso a little, and rests both his elbows upon the bar. One ankle gets hooked over the other as he practically lounges there.

To Mick he replies, "It's Spike. I said so before, but who's counting?" He smirks - or sneers. Maybe something in between. To all three of them he adds: "We've been doing some researching into this whole..." and he puts his hands together, not touching, as though holding a ball of something between them, "'thing' - that's got every sod an' his mother *beamed* to San Francisco. And it's not just San Francisco. Some poor sods have ended up in Beacon Hills, Seattle... ugh. I feel sorry for buggers."

He goes silent for a bit, and then looks back at Lucas and River.

"Yes, there are good vampires - but of MY particular kind, well... Angel and I are the ONLY good ones. You see a vamp that looks like this:" and for a moment, he manifests the 'demon' - his eyes burn a baleful yellow, his brows deepen and of course, the fangs come out - then it is gone, "And you should run - or, do your magicky thing an' stake the bastards."

Mick quirks a brow. "Normally I drink animal blood, but I've drunk human before." Come to think of it, he still has a few bags of the A-Positive he got off of Guillermo the other day in his hidden freezer behind the mirror in his walk-in kitchen. Then he quirks a brow as Spike goes 'game face'. He snorts in amusement. "Cute. Seriously, you do know that you look like something out of a teen drama on the CW, right?" Mick says, eyes going silver as his fangs extend. "I prefer the mature look." he says with a dark chuckle, before his eyes return to normal and his fangs retract and he goes back to sipping his blood. Then nods to the boys.

"Most vamps...well, my kind of vamps....and I still need more info on -that- weird new twist in life... don't share my moral code, but there are only a handful I'd call evil. Well, at least that aren't sick bastards out for what sick bastards call a good time. There's the occasional rogue, but that's usually cause whoever sired them didn't help them through the transition and let them go feral." Anopther sip of his drink. "Mick St. John. Private Investigator. Also vampire. But that's probably belaboring the obvious at this point."

"Beacon Hills?" River says, wrinkling his nose. "That's a fate worse than death. It's barely a dot on a map!" He shudders, giving his head a quick shake. But then Spike and Mick both briefly vamp-out, and River sucks in a sharp breath. "That was so...." He glances between the vampires a few times, expression hard to read, then suddenly blurts, "So cool! Can you do that whenever you want? Ohmigod, just imagine the look on Bobby Fargas's face if you...Hey! Would you come to my school Monday and scare the snot outta Bobby Fargas? He'd totally pee his pants." He casts a quick frown toward Lucas. "Geez, Luke, be nice. Can't you see they're the good guys? They'd never hurt an innocent." He turns back to Spike, all lovesick again. "Would you, Spike?"

Lucas Troy doesn't say a word, so far he's only used his empathy to project simple emotions he's never actually tried to mess with someone's emotions before. But he's trying to figured out how to fix his cousin. Then he just gives up, he doesn't think its possible. He looks to spike, "You know what... seriously... If I have to put up with ... Can I have a beer? A real beer?" Yep, River is already driving Lucas to drink at 13. Or at least strongly consider it anyway.

Spike glances from Mick, to Lucas, to River and back to Lucas.

"Beer? Sod, no."

Then to River he replies, "Don't mention snot - seriously. We just staked a snot-demon. Ugh, I need a shower just thinking about it." And finally he returns his attention to Mick. The other vampire is given a long look, and the occasional nod. It's the mention of 'private investigator' that draws most of Spike's interest - and there are some things best discussed just between vamps.

Grown-ups too.

"Ask around here," he tells Mick after a while. "I know we can use more investigators." With that, he pushes off from the bar and tugs on the collar of his coat. "Speaking o' which, I have a patrol to finish - I'm all serious now, yeah. But I still love me a good hunt. You gents be good." The blond vampire nods his head, flashes a brilliant smirk, and heads for the stairs.

"Staked a snot-demon... bloody hell, yeugh..."