Devil You Know

No Choice.

The music was loud, good loud though not messy, distorted loud. Grant was right, his mates band were pretty damn good. They were just a two piece, a drummer and a guitarist who was also screaming on vocal but they somehow managed to make more noise than a twenty piece ever could. Elsa was enjoying herself, not thinking about Vincent, or Florence, or her mother, looking forward to seeing Sebastian tomorrow before college started up again on Monday and loving the scuzzy riffage of the band up on stage. In any crowded situation, the smell of so many bodies and the sound of so many beating hearts could make Elsa feel almost drugged, it could be difficult to cope with, sometimes she felt her fangs trying to muscle in on the party and felt the tightening of the skin around her eyes that warned her she was about to ’vamp out’ as Sebastian liked to call it. It took a lot to drown out the incessant thud, thud of a hundred plus human hearts but this band were doing a pretty good job.

Chatting to Grant and Emily, when the band didn’t make it impossible for them to hear what she was saying, made her feel a tiny bit closer to Kate. Grant updated her on who Kate was spending time with, which young men she’d been rejecting (she hadn’t had a date since Aiden), how she was getting on at college and generally how she seemed in herself.

“She clearly misses you too you know,” Grant was shouting, he didn’t need to, Elsa would have heard him whispering from behind the bands impressive amp stack while the drums pounded and the guitar and vocals snarled if she needed to, but Grant didn’t know that, “She’s just not been the same since you two fell out. Why you can’t just talk it out I don’t know.”

Elsa shook her head sadly, “It’s complicated,” she shouted back, “I want to work things out with her, I really do but I’ve got to respect Kate’s wishes, she’s not ready.”

“Jesus, what did you do?” Emily asked, “Anyone would think you’d killed someone!”

Almost, “It’s just complicated,” Elsa repeated apologetically, hoping they could either talk about something else or just give up trying to talk over the band at all. She nodded over to the bar to indicate that she was going for a drink and raised her eyebrows, miming drinking from an invisible glass as a way of silently asking if she could get anything for Emily or Grant. Both shook their heads so Elsa began to carefully elbow her way out of the crowd. Carefully because if she didn’t think about every move she made, she was in danger of sending innocent moshers off on some unexpected crowd surfing. Being as strong as she was and able to move at the speeds she could often required a lot of concentration just to appear as normal as possible.

As far as Emily and Grant were concerned, Elsa was not drinking. When they weren’t looking, a sneaky double bourbon or two kept her from feeling like she was missing out on all the lovely warm blood that was out there for the taking, Elsa hadn’t even thought to take her serum before she came out but so far it wasn’t proving to be a problem, she really did need to talk to Hesper about that next time she saw her, it was weird that she just didn’t seem to need it that often anymore. She didn’t go to the bar, she went straight out the front door and pulled her phone out of her pocket. There was a text from Sebastian, she’d heard the beep of her message tone a few moments earlier.

I’m home, wish you were here xx 

Six words was all it took to make Elsa feel weak at the knees. Sebastian was back early and he wanted her. No matter how confident she felt in their relationship now, a simple text could still make her feel like the seventeen year old girl with a hopeless crush on a tall, dark and dangerous stranger she’d been when they first met. She did a quick calculation and began to type a reply.

Careful what you wish for. Give me five minutes ;) xx

As much as she was enjoying her night and as much as the band really were good, she knew her night could be infinitely better spent with just one other person in an empty warehouse on the edge of town. She’d make her excuses, leave the bike chained up here and run back home, it would be quicker.