Akantha Kattalakis

"His dark crimson eyes saw everything that unfolded before him, gazing at it with curiosity, entertainment, delight. But all of it ended way too soon, so he narrowed his eyes with a funny furrow of his brows. "Awww, nawwh..." He sighs, changing the way he was looking at things with a little bit more or seriousness when his eyes meets hers. The ancient vampire squinted a little bit amused, intrigued, as she welcomed him in a way. He kept his silence though, seeing her changing her form to a more human-like look.

Walking past him with a sensual walk, taking her time, like the Queen she claimed to be. Marcus saw all that without even trying to hide it, his eyes eyeing her up and down her curves with a mischievously smirk over his lips. "Hot damn," he slipped out in the form of compliment, so she could hear him. Then came the direct invitation, and he chuckles at it. Pulling himself off the wall, soon after walking after her to let her guide him into her night club.

Placing his claws within the back pockets of his dark jeans, he stares inside like some sort of curious predator, checking out the possible preys that could be walking around and all, not that he would harm any of them, this wasn't his territory after all and, for now, he's playing along with some respect. But yes, it's just part of who he is, his animal instinct, the predator who lies within.
"

"Darius, on the other hand, was about to leave and find a meal for himself as well. His throat was drying up a bit too, and he could use some nice warm blood straight from the source, in other words, a human on two legs. Arriving at the entrance of the Queen of Hell's bar, the vampire stopped in his tracks and stood there, peeking at the outside from where he stood, as the door was slightly ajar, allowing him to explore the sight of what was going on outside and also filter what was being said thanks to his heightened vampire senses. The bastard smiles in amusement like the jerk he is when he hears Miss Queen of Hell playing the role of a Good Samaritan trying to help a frightened damsel in distress who just had the misfortune to cross paths with her, the one and only bratty queen. She even goes so far as to offer the virgin a ride home, and the naive fool simply accepts the offer just like that. Okay, that was a bit too much. The girl must be really dumb if she goes on accepting such invitations from complete strangers. Darius chuckles at the irony of it all and then tilts his head in disapproval as he thinks about how in some cases humans can be extremely bad seeds, turning on each other, killing each other randomly, committing unspeakable atrocities against each other. And in other cases, they can be so stupid as to do things like this girl just did, knowing what she probably knows. That danger is always around the corner, and you can never be too cautious. If this bastard had any human emotion left in him, or a heart that beat, he'd feel sorry for the young woman who was about to serve as a plate for the Queen of Hell herself. Well, at least she was the meal for someone important, for some. Not everyone cared about the Queen of Hell or whatever that meant. Who cares about leading a bunch of useless demons anyway? Not Darius, not Marcus, and no one he knows that's smart enough to know better. The Queen will eventually reach the same conclusion, or not...

So, it seems that Akantha and the girl exchanged a few words, which led the young student to accept the queen's offer of a ride, and then she followed the queen in order to reach the car and take that ride, and that's when things took a turn for the worst for the poor girl, who had clearly put her trust in the wrong person. The scent of the virgin's blood had a different fragrance to it, a sweet and purest one. Every vampire loves the taste of a virgin every now and then, it's a classic and unique flavour it offers to them, and they simply love it. If the bastard was the one taking a bite of that delicious blood, he'd probably rape her as well, just before he finished her for good.

With a slight twisting of the knob, he opens the door a little more and comes out of the shadows, walking into the field of vision of the queen and the limping girl hanging in her arms, barely alive by now. Grinning widely, he claps his hands at the scenario before him. "I gotta admit. You put on quite the show, even if you're just feeding yourself. For what audience tho? Me?" He points at himself as his grin widens and he chuckles at it. "About worse things out there than humans, if you mean us..." Pointing at himself some more, then making a circular gesture with his hand as a reference to all vampires. "Let's agree to disagree, shall we? We're much better than these pathetic and weak humans. Look at us! They don't stand a chance against us!" Of course, the biggest jerk around the corner knew exactly what she meant when she stated that there are other things out there worse than humans, but sue him for loving to tease her or anyone else he sees fit.

With a smug grin on his facial features, he stares at the queen as she begins to tell him that she would gladly share her meal with him, adding to her speech that she just won't do as much 'cause she knows how he feels about leftovers. Funny how she thinks she knows him so well when in reality she hardly knows him at all. So far, she has only seen a glimpse of his surface, no more and no less, and so far, it has only been business of that sort: 'Where is your master and the dagger?' and 'Don't you dare come near my master. I don't know his whereabouts, and even if I did...'. We all know where that has gotten them lately. "Leftovers and sharing are two completely different things. And I do share with certain people sometimes." Or maybe one, because frankly, at this point, he can't recall anyone he'd share a meal with other than his master. Maybe he'd make an exception with Ste, depending on his mood that day or that evening.

He shook his head at her next statement and laughed it off. The cocky bastard knew that sooner or later that bratty queen would try to get into his pants. Well, he's not one to say no to a good time. He's always down to bang a pretty face and the most curvaceous body around whenever the opportunity presents itself. However, she was a special case, which meant that she could do so with a second intention at heart. What heart? Well, the point here is, she meant no good, because he could see her as a female version of himself without the improvements that make him so unique. As far as he knew, no one could match his level, one of the advantages of being from the lineage of Marcus over anyone else in the vampire world. "As much as I'd love to bring you to your knees and make you lick the ground beneath my feet, I'm smarter than that. You and me, in those terms, don't sound good to me. You know exactly why, so don't even ask. Besides..." He feigns an offended look as he opens his arms to his sides. "Don't objectify me, girl." What the hell now? He loves to be objectified by beautiful women. Don't worry about him and his behavior now. He's a troll most of the time. "Anyway, I'm starving too, so... see ya, Princess." He grins at her from where he stands and begins to slowly turn his back on her. What a teasing prick he was, right? Right. Bear with him."

"Please, darling, never take this bastard's words to heart. That would be a waste of your time right there, cause anyone who knows this bastard also knows that, his favorite sport is being a teasing prick most of the time, and the more you show signs of being offended by his actions, the deeper he digs his fingers into that wound. Just ask his little brother, Ste. Being fully aware that what she wanted to hear was that she had been the greatest and that he loved her performance, he did the opposite. The Queen's ego was already high as it was. Why push it even higher? No need for that. She was bratty enough as it was. So yeah, he went for 'not bad' and loved to see the disappointment written all over her face as she certainly expected something else, some kind of compliment... Maybe the lady next to him was hoping to see this vampire drooling all over her like the others... Poor little fools. "Meaning, you were hoping to get laid tonight. Am I right? Let me guess... But no one is ever enough to fully satisfy the wishes and desires of the beautiful Queen of Hell. Hmmm. What a shame." He added teasingly as he wiggled his eyebrows at her, always staring into her eyes with that grin glued to his face. Then he takes a quick glance at her curves as she leans against the counter, noticing at how the dress was clinging to her form and accentuating it so deliciously... He clears his throat at the sight of it and takes another sip of his drink. She was asking for it. Oh, if she wasn't...

Back to serious business, then, as she responds back at him, letting him know that she knew from the beginning that the rogue demon's actions against her person had his finger on it. The amusing grin on Darius' face only grew wider as he listened to her. He couldn't help it. "What can I say? I tend to leave quite an impression wherever I go and with whomever I meet. You thought you were the exception?" He implied as he set his empty glass on the bar and nodded to the waiter as she offered him another round of whiskey. "Besides, I wasn't even trying to disguise my moves. If I did, you wouldn't even dream of what I was up to. I can be smooth too at times..." The male clarified immediately, before she bragged even more about knowing about his actions in advance. None of it was a secret. Unlike many others, he wasn't afraid of her. Call him arrogant or overconfident in himself and his abilities... Whatever you want, but that's it. As far as he was concerned, she was a petulant, stubborn brat who'd recently taken aim at his master, and that alone was enough to keep Darius on his guard against her. Queen of Hell or not, he will stand his ground. Darius doesn't add anything to her assertions that punishment awaits the demon who went behind her back and betrayed her. He simply nods in agreement, for despite his many flaws and being as much of a jerk as he is known to be, one thing he hates to see in others is disrespect and disloyalty to their masters and such. In his book, the demon deserved what was coming to him, if only because he was easily manipulated into turning against her. Loyal ones are hard to come by these days. "What you do to your demons to keep them in line or not is none of my business. You deal with them as you see fit. They are just useless beings, if you ask me. You know you can't rely on them." Arching a perfect brow, he laughs it off when she tells him that he could have asked her anything he wanted to know because they were such a happy team. Sarcasm at its best, right? You've got to love someone who can be as sarcastic as you. It's so rare these days. "I could have, right? I guess it just didn't occur to me to ask you. Or maybe I was testing the waters to see where they would take me. As you must know by now, in some ways you are just like your demons. You cover up the truth with convenient lies. And hey, who am I to point an accusing finger at you? I can be worse. But I bet you already knew that. Happy team or not, we are not a team, not really..." He made that clear. And then, when he heard her say that she hadn't been able to find his master, he smiled in amusement. Nothing new there, but she was certainly right about one thing. It was indeed a delight to hear her say that she was failing at it. That alone must be devouring her from the inside, knowing that she is not as successful as she is used to be in everything. "Tell me something I don't know, darling." His master is smarter than she thinks, and he won't be found unless he wants to be found. Deal with it, Queen of Hell.

"Go ahead, then. I'm not stopping you, am I?" He frowns at her slightly before continuing, adding a comment to her remarks. "And here I thought you were picky about your men and your food. No wonder you're displeased more often than not." And with that, he teased her one last time before heading out to find a meal as well. That or annoying his little brother - both were rather entertaining options. The night was still young."

"Boredom affects any creature, vampires, demons, werewolves, and the Queen of Hell included, so it seems. She might be one brat who's used to having things her way most of the time, but that wouldn't work with this bastard, not tonight, not ever, and most certainly not when it came to his master. In this particular case, he had been honest the whole time about not knowing the whereabouts of his master and this dagger. However, even if he happened to know something about it, his lips would remain sealed forever, and no one could change that. Anyway, considering that this strange, bold lady, who was no less than the Queen of Hell herself, was on the trail of his master, he felt the need to dig her out in order to find out what she was up to. All for what? For the sake of his master and his undying loyalty to him. So far, everything was going according to plan for Darius. The demon did the required tasks, brought him more than useful information, and now he was here tonight... at the Queen of Hell's palace, her favorite place. Her second kingdom, perhaps. The jerk took a drink or two as he watched the crowd of men and some women cheering, clapping and drooling over the girl dancing and stripping on the stage. He had to admit, the ladies were putting on quite a show. It made him long to bite and rape some of them so badly. Sue him if you want, but that's how vampires roll. They get horny over blood, pretty faces and, of course, nice looking bodies. Let's not forget that he's a man too, and a man has his needs. But he was just fine the way he was. He could control himself and keep it under control, but of course... Long before the so glorious Akantha went on stage and performed her number, he already knew that she would do it. He overheard her talking to her girl backstage, the dancer who had just left. Grinning like the bastard he was, his eyes locked with hers the moment she locked hers on his as she, better than the others, put on quite a show and everyone was excited to see her there. The crowd's hormones was all over the place the moment she was almost naked, exposing her huge breasts without a care in the world, only wearing her red panties on. She was such a tease and so full of herself. Sure, she was a sight for sore eyes, there's no denying that, but still... They were all losing it, screaming and throwing random stuff at her. She must be loving it.

With his back against the counter and his elbows resting on it, his eyes follow the Queen each move as she approaches him. A wicked grin tugs at the left corner of his lips as he notices the way she pretends to ignore his presence there at first. Eventually, she locks her eyes with his again, and after putting on the bra-less black dress, she stands next to him. He smiles in amusement as he stares at her. "It wasn't bad." He responds to her question, narrowing his eyes at her from where he stands, scanning her from head to toe for a brief second before releasing the breath of a laugh. "Did you have fun tonight, Queen B?" He teased at the end, chuckling as the waiter poured him another drink. He lifted a brow at her and shook his head. "Are we having trouble in paradise or what? Oh, wait, hell I mean?" He began, pausing only to take a sip of his whiskey. "Rumor has it that your pets aren't very loyal to you lately. Or maybe you don't inspire them enough to have them on their knees for you." He teased, furrowing his eyebrows at her. He can't help himself being this teasing bastard that everyone loves most of the time. She loves him too, for sure(?)"

"Well, Marcus might be a few centuries younger than the so claimed Queen of Hell nowadays, but he sure wasn't less powerful because of that. Spending centuries in search for power, Marcus besides being a vampire, he was one of the most powerful warlocks that ever existed and has gained his own reputation around the world between supernatural beings and such. Being one of the few ancient vampires, he obviously had his ways to get to know information about variety of topics that could call his interest. Weapons that could kill God himself? Bring it! Eventually he was going to find out about it, and probably he already knew about this weapon for a while, but only now he had decided to go and take matters into his owns hands. Not only Akantha didn't want to have an encounter with Death, Marcus obviously didn't want to have one either. At least, not before his plans for humanity were fulfilled. That meant that whatever threat that could show up to make his lis life a mess, he had to squish it like a bug. So yeah, he managed to steal this weapon from Akantha and made sure to hide it very well by using all kind of spells to secure it from others if they wanted to try to steal it from him. Logical.

He has been also curious about Akantha for a while, wanting to know more about her and not just the tales, part of him made him think that she could be an interesting being, not only because of how powerful she was, but as a person, so... After making himself 'available' to find, since he was also being protected by spells just as he did with the dagger, he removed the magic that was being used as a shield, and went to see if he could spot her in her strip club. By the time he appeared in there after teleporting himself, he gets to see an scene unfolding before his bare eyes. Well, just in time for a little entertainment, the caster was playing with a pack of wolves... How he disliked that species. Marcus could also notice at how the ancient being felt triggered by the wolf's teasings, otherwise it seemed a bit odd for him for her to 'explode' just like that, maybe it was hard for her to control her emotions despite of how old she was. He also pays attention at the darkness around her, they sure weren't that different. He wondered if she also made some sort of a deal with the darkness just as he did millenia ago? Whatever was the case, he smiled at the situation at hand and continued watching the show after crossing his arms and lean his frame against a nearby tree. "This will be interesting.""

"That's it. It couldn't be more accurate, actually. Demons are weak creatures, easily bent to the will of others who are smarter than them. It's not that hard to beat a demon's intelligence, or to figure out what they crave and play the cards accordingly. It was so easy for Darius. He got what he wanted in the blink of an eye, simply by promising the foolish demon that he would dethrone his queen and take her place. Demons' thirst for power tends to blind them, making them easy targets for manipulation. And it could be seen in the way this one let himself be fooled by the smartass vampire, who was only looking out for his own interests and benefetis and wouldn't lift a finger to help him in his plans against the queen if it didn't bring him something good in return.

Since Darius wasn't that far from the street the demon was left to curse on his own. He furrowed his brows at the sound of a new female and her very familiar voice. Won't you look at that? The queen of hell herself has arrived, and now she is clearly interrogating the poor demon. A grin tugs at the side of Darius' lips as he hears their exchange of words and how she pretends to buy his excuses when in truth she already suspected him. Pffft, demons can't even do a job properly without leaving traces of their doings behind. So lame. He thought to himself. Well, too bad for the demon, cause now this is not his problem anymore.

Being the teasing bastard that Darius was known to be, he thought why not show up at her nightclub and see if he could spot her tonight and face her in person? He has no problem telling the truth - that he was the one who sent someone after her. He's not afraid of the famous Queen of Hell, even though, judging by the rumors she herself brought to him, if his master is the one in possession of an item that can kill anything and anyone. She is the one who should be more careful than him. Soon enough, he entered the Allure and approached the balcony. "Double whiskey..." He ordered as he glanced around, taking good look at the place and anticipating the moment when the Queen would be informed of his presence and show up to show him who the boss was. The jerk even smiled amused at the thought of it, as he also observed some good-looking ladies performing some dances on the stage. Such a sight for sore eyes, indeed."

"As soon as the demon left to do as the vampire told him, the jerk took off as well, grinning mischievously at the thought of how easy it was to convince this one. Fool, more precisely. Not everyone can brag about being loyal with a capital L. Once again, not everyone is worthy of the devotion and loyalty of others. Perhaps the Queen's leadership in Hell wasn't as pleasing to some of her subordinates as it should have been, causing some of them to gladly go behind her back and plot against her with the sole purpose of dethroning her and taking her place later. Either way, it's not that surprising that a demon would do things like betrayal and such. They are demons. It's what they do. And most of them must hate being bossed around by a brat like that one. She's so full of herself just because she's so beautiful and so full of power she thinks she's the best and that she can conquer the world. She is certainly a sight for sore eyes, any human or vampire could see that unless they were blind. For Darius though, it takes more than a pretty face and a nice pair of boobs to make him go against his beliefs and betray those he truly cares about. Frankly, being the jerk that he is, he doesn't give a damn about anyone - almost anyone, that is - his master being the exception to that rule, and maybe just maybe that poor excuse of a vampire that was Ste was included in that list too. All he knows is that he loves to rescue his sore ass, only to mock him afterwards.

Given the circumstances, meaning how persistent this so-called Queen of Hell was being in finding out his master's whereabouts, Darius had to do something about it. To be honest, he wasn't sure if she even posed any threat to his master. In truth, there are few things that stand a chance against Marcus, and even Darius can't remember a time when Marcus was confronted with anything that made him shiver in the slightest. However, since this was about his master, and Darius would do anything for the sake of protecting his master, he thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea to send someone to spy on the lady and report back to him. You can never be too careful with those who seek power like this woman does. Whatever that dagger meant, whether his master possessed it or not, it didn't matter, not really. What matters is to keep this woman away from his master, unless he wants to meet with her by own choice.



Leaning his frame against the wall, Darius stood in the same spot as last night, waiting for the pitiful demon to arrive. It was taking himlonger than expected. Hopefully he hadn't been caught in the act. That would be such a shame. There was a chance that he might have changed his mind, but somehow Darius doubted it. The demon was dying for such an opportunity to betray his queen and try his luck. Darius, on the other hand, was only plotting for his own benefit, but it's most likely that the demon made this stupid purchase because he thought he would gain something out of it. Thanks to Darius vain promises. But believe me, he would gain something, just perhaps it wouldn't be exactly what he was hoping for.

"Oh, hey. Good evening. For a moment, I thought you were never going to show up. Can't waste an opportunity like the one I so selflessly gave you to rise above that unworthy queen of yours." He greeted him as soon as he saw the demon in the distance making his way towards him. A grin tugged at the side of his lips as he put an arm over the demon's shoulders, giving him a 'friendly' pat before continuing. "Tell me everything." The demon nodded to the vampire in front of him, and he wasted no time in spilling the beans about everything he knew. The demon turned out to be so useful after all. He overheard the conversation the Queen had with a guy named Cain, a guy who was apparently a longtime friend of hers, and it seems that they came to the conclusion that they had already figured out where Marcus was, as if Marcus would leave it so obvious if he was really staying in the shadows. "Thanks a lot, lad. I'll see you around." He added, finally, after hearing the news he had so promptly given him, taking a few steps back and winking at the demon, who opened his arms to the vampire, his expression showing clear signs of confusion. "Where is my compensation? You gave me your word." The jerk dares to laugh it off and frown, feigning offense. "Come on, man, this isn't over yet. I may need you later." He tossed it at him before he left this time for good, leaving a very annoyed demon behind. "It was nice meeting you too." He said, at last, the troll. "Ugh, fuck vampires!" The demon curses angrily under his breath, kicking the wall ahead of him."