I found myself in front of an immaculate building, with blue and purple strobe lights trying to escape into the outside world, as the front doors were propped open. I had to admit, it was pretty darn classy. There was a sign on the building that showed a sleek black panther with yellow eyes intertwining through the lettering. We filed into line, as well as a few of the other people that seemed to be fall under the category of “new co-workers”. It was still relatively early which made the line non-existent.

The bouncer nodded at Chris, who had placed himself in front, and let us all in. Dean clapped my back and jerked his head at the bouncer. “Hey Pete.”

Pete grunted. “Erngh.”

“Still monosyllabic, I see?” Sean said. I looked behind me and Dean grinned at Pete.

“Mnghf.” Pete nodded.

“Don’t worry, he’s with us. The newbie from London, eh?” Dean laughed and pushed me forward. Passing by Pete I gave a jaunty wave. Pete looked me up and down. I looked Pete down and up. He was built bigger than Dolph! I tensed.

“Eh.” He nodded jerkily towards us, and we continued on our merry way.

I walked in and stopped. Dean and Sean stood near me, and waited patiently for my eyes to adjust to the sudden dark that was lit up with different colored lights. Drapes of black cloth hung from the ceiling and along the corners of the bar. Strobe lights flashed and pulsed. The music, typical of your average bar, was blasting so loud you wouldn’t be able to hear the person next to you yell out. The room was oddly empty. For a very brief moment I felt dizzy, and the room only spun once. The back of my hairs stood at the sensation, and despite cool air inside, I felt a heat wave hit me. I quirked an eyebrow at Sean and Dean, and they grinned. “Very interesting,” I said. The boys didn’t hear me. They made a gesture to follow them, and I did. We walked across the dance floor, past the various stages that were raised up, and continued through a double set of black drapes. The music faded as we walked further.

“–Keep going down this corridor, we turn left, continue going down, turn right, keep doing down till you hit the end,” Sean was saying, while leading the way. The corridor was large enough for two people to walk past each other, but no wider. We made our way down the hallway. I felt a bit like a mouse in a maze. I kept the thought to myself.

We reached the end, and the music was now a soft murmer, and walked through another set of black curtains. Sean and Dean scurried over to the table where the others had situated. Quickly scanning the table, I saw that there was an open seat beside Chris.

I made my way over to the table and sat myself down. Chris who was in the middle of a conversation, looked over at me with his dark brown eyes, nodding at me. I returned the gesture, and smiled in thanks. There was a menu laying on the table in front of me. Considering that I was now slightly hungry as I hadn’t had anything to eat, I picked it up and perused it. It took me a few moments, but finally I decided to try the lasagna.

Having decided on that, I gently put the menu down and raised my eyes. Staring at me intently was a pair of bright green eyes. The color seemed to suck me in and it almost left me breathless. They slowly blinked, as if they were coming out of a long reverie. I caught myself wondering at the utter clarity of them, and the term dangerous eyes flitted through my mind. Feeling the breath catch in my throat, I forced myself to remember how to breath. Mentally berating myself, I licked my suddenly dry lips. This was the second time in an hour that I had allowed myself to be not in control of my own body.

I found myself experiencing tunnel vision, and all I saw were green eyes crinkling with the smile that twisted this person’s mouth up. Short cropped brown hair, slightly chubby cheeks complete with dimples, along with the fullest lips I had ever seen completed this man’s face. Blinking, my eyes were able to take the rest of the man in, and I saw that he was wearing a grey suit with a simple black tie that lay flat against his white dress shirt. My throat suddenly went dry.

He stood up halfway and reached across the table to shake my hand. I half stood up myself, and reached out to clasp his hand. What felt like an electric shock went up my arm. It took all of my willpower not to yelp. I slowly sat back down staring at him.

“Name is Lucas. You must be Ira. Ya, news travels fast here.” He gave me what could only be considered an apologetic look, and it was then that I saw his pupils widen.

A scent hit me, one of trees and wild flowers. It had the faintest hint of wet foliage, like what the woods after a severe rainfall would smell like. Suddenly, the world felt like it was trying to tip me onto my side. The room spun once, and I was left dazed. I think he felt it too. Face pale, I saw his eyes meet mine. After a brief moment, there was a small hint of a smile on his face.

What the bloody hell was going on?

“Not all cats that are black bring bad luck,” he said.

Without thinking, I continued the phrase. “And yet if I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.”
Lucas was now smirking, there was no doubt about it. He was like me, pure and simple. I sat back feeling slightly shocked. I would’ve taken a sip of water, but I knew that my shaky hands would give me away. I didn’t want that. In fact, knowing that he was staring at me while I sat dumbfounded looking into my glass, left me feeling a little unnerved. I excused myself, saw the sign that directed me to the bathrooms, and went down another hallway that twisted right at a one hundred eighty degree turn. “Bloody hell, I am most certainly not a mouse,” I couldn’t help but mutter almost angrily.

I found the mens washroom and went in. Turning on the faucet, I splashed cold water on my face. As the water made its way slowly down my face in trickles, I stared at myself in the mirror. Sweet Lords, I just left the last gang. “He couldn’t be, could he?”

I narrowed my eyes at my reflection and swore. “You’re not even hear a full twenty-four hours and you run into your kind. How is that possible?” I realized just how absurd I was thinking, and changed tune, giving myself a sound talking to. “This is San Francisco, the city where you find everything and anything! You’re a right tit thinking everything you didn’t like or want would just disappear. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and get over it.” There. That pep talk went over well, I thought. I nodded to myself. Sometimes one needed a stern talking too.

I patted my face dry with a towel and threw it out as I spun on my heel and pulled the door open. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Lucas standing there, leaning up against a wall. I felt my will weaken. I didn’t want to become involved. Not again.

Lucas stared at me for a few minutes before he made a show of blinking. “Why did you run off?”

It was my turn to blink. “I needed some time to think,” I said, honestly. The fact that one of my own people “runs into me” after what happened back home several months ago seemed disturbingly suspicious to me. I decided I’d be the mouse after all. I would follow his lead. For now.

“Ira.” Lucas said. He closed the distance between us and I could smell his cologne. Reaching up to stroke the side of my face, he placed his body so close to mine but without touching me. His lips curved into a smile, and I could see just a hint of fangs.

I gave off a tiny shudder. I hoped he couldn’t feel my wanting of him.

“Lucas.” I licked my lips. My heart was racing. I felt his hand slowly trail down my face, down the side of my neck, over the curve of my shoulder, and down the length of my torso. His hand stopped and rested on my hip. I shivered.

“I think you are well aware of what I am.”

All I could do was nod.

“Good.” Lucas sounded pleased. His voice had gone soft, bringing up goosebumps along my skin. By all the gods, he was gorgeous and it was all I could do to keep from having my knees buckle when he started rubbing small circles on my hip with his thumb.

I closed my eyes briefly and tried to get myself under control. Opening them and looking straight into his eyes, I only hesitated for a moment. “I am not committing myself to anything.”

Lucas looked was looking down at me, and smiled. “You don’t need to.” It wasn’t hard to tell he was excited since we were now pressed up against each other. His thumb was still making small circles. The movement had untucked my shirt out of my pants so now he was touching skin. Small shivers went up and down my spine. With his other hand, he lightly brought my chin up and dipped his head down. I stopped him with the palm of my hand on his chest. “I don’t kiss on the first date.” My voice was one of a lust-filled and breathy teenager.

Lucas smiled at me. “It’s a good thing we’re not on a first date.” His smile seemed to melt the rest of my resolve. I stretched my neck up to meet him, and even went up on tip toe so that we could meet. Yes, what can I say. I may be a hard ass, but I’m still a romantic deep down. We kissed, and he wrapped his arms around my back to prevent me from falling. My knees did give out then. It was almost like he knew. I opened my mouth and the kiss deepened.

After a couple of minutes we came up for air. I felt incredibly light headed, and my knees were slightly shaky. Giving him my lop-sided grin, I blinked. “I do believe we should probably get back to the table. I’m sure the others will probably will be wondering were we’ve buggered off to by now.”

“We’ll continue this conversation later.” Lucas voice was low, and it came out as a growl. I didn’t know if I should take it as a threat, but the prospect made the butterflies in my stomach flutter.

He refused to let go of my hand until we stepped in sight of the others. I wasn’t too sure what to think of that, but my heart was racing regardless.