Uncover the traces

Helio rolled his eyes by the official no, because when it came down to it. It wasn't like he was giving up, no matter this little situation. Besides it wasn't over yet, even if Helio was taking a step back to regroup and make another game plan. It was in this moment that Isaac caught the smirk on Scorpio's lips, and if anyone knew something it was the two couldn't stand near each other for longer than a few minutes before things were bound to be messy. Not that Scorpio this time actually was the one doing anything, but the smug smile on the fire demon's lips was enough to set the hybrid off. Enough to make Isaac teleport himself behind Scorpio to put an elbow in the temple of the fire demon, making him tumble a little to the side, but not really anything but laugh. "Come on dude, it's like you are obsessed with me or something," he chuckled shaking his head at the angry hybrid who moved closer to Scorpio, clearly pissed enough to make the entire environment around them shake with a chaotic energy. Victoria looked shortly towards Linus, then back at the boys. If she could get close enough she could shut Isaac down.

It didn't seem like Helio was doing anything to stop Isaac on his little temper meltdown, and Ares cheered on clearly having needed some spice lately. Which did make Francis walk up to the kid and grab around his throat, Ares gasped a little after air. "I think you'll are playing on very thin eyes here," Francis whispered dangerously low against Ares ear, letting the fire run out through his fingers and burn the demon's skin. But at the same time Francis could feel like how the touch was draining himself for energy by the second - not that Francis wasn't in such a boost after the day he had, that he didn't really pay more attention to the energy that left his system. Francis however finally let go and pushed Ares back. The anger from the phoenix however made Elijah return to the show, almost like a chameleon able to show whenever he wanted and as well go away without a trace - but he hadn't made it far earlier.

Just before that Isaac could take another run at Scorpio, Victoria made a wall appear from the ground they were standing on, creating a space between the two idiots fighting. Isaac looked towards the female shapeshifter taking a few dangerous steps towards her, making Victoria seemly raise her eyebrows at the hybrid. "Isaac, its enough -" Helio spoke still calmly, mostly because he knew he wasn't enough to tame the anger within Isaac, he needed to call Isla.

Linus didn’t do anything; he just stood there observing with an almost bored look on his face. He found it very tedious that he had to resort to violence, not that he was a saint in the matter, but he would like to believe that he was better than this. He watched how his brother grabbed the demon by his throat and started making fire dance over his skin. Once again, he just turned his gaze toward Helio, who seemed just like himself, a passive observer of how it escalated between the two gangs.
Ximena, on the other hand, just widened her eyes, making her way to stand a little behind Helio; she never liked violence, which was a funny thing given that she was both a siren and she had decided to be part of Helio’s group, where he had never hidden the fact that they took what they wanted either with a negotiation or with a violent force takeover. Typically, the latter. But just because she was part of the Coyotes didn’t mean she condoned any of this, and if it were up to her, they wouldn’t even have gotten here, but she remained fiercely loyal to Helio no matter what he decided to do.

When you had both the ability to see the future, it came in handy that you were able to make portals that could get you from one end of the world to the next relatively fast. Isla stepped through the portal and looked around the chaos that was unfolding in front of her eyes. “Isaac”, she said in a low tone as she stepped toward him, making sure she placed herself between the female shapeshifter and her son. “That’s enough”, she warned him, letting her eyes connect with his.

Isaac stopped the second he heard his mother call his name, almost like an instinct pull back to him reminding himself who the hell he was again. Sadly the hybrid had a thing about seeing red and completely forget the world around him. He didn't say anything other than taking a step back and looked a little bit down. Victoria exhaling a bit and ran a hand through her hair, not that she would have let him cause anymore violence if he had come close, if she had been quick enough all she needed was to have made him fall asleep. Isaac more or less just teleported back behind Helio not daring taking the steps there.

"I guess we will take our leave, and you will let go of my son's neck now please," Helio took a step to the side, looking at Francis before reaching his hand out to simply just touch him and render him to fall asleep - to be fair Francis was vulnerable to these attacks after the blast his head had been through earlier. "Isla get us out of here," he requested her with a sigh, hoping she would make a portal for them to get out of the scene. Ares messaged his burned throat, but stepped through the portal.

Victoria let out a sigh once the coyotes were out of sight, "what a lovely mess," she mumbled before walking over and touched Francis' temple, making him wake up again, also noticing the bruises on his throat. Maybe his meeting with Juniper hadn't gone as planned? Or something else had happened? Victoria didn't comment on it as Francis got up on his feet. "Oh man, don't tell may Ah missed all uh thuh fun," Blaise moved his toothpick to the left side of his mouth, letting out a little chuckle. "Shut up Blaise, as hif way need anymore uh thet drama. It's enough them bastards is tryin' tuh git uh hold uh mah club," Anastasia pointed out and clicked her tongue a little as the two vampires approached the scene. "Look whut Ah found wanderin' around lost an all," Anastasia gestured to her brother, whom she knew were close friends with the Phoenix brothers. Francis shook his head before he walked over like nothing just had happened and greeted Blaise in a quick hug.

Isla turned her head toward Linus just as Helio called for her to get them out of here. Linus made a slight growling sound, not really liking the fact that Helio had managed to get Francis to fall asleep right there and then, but he also knew better than to rush into another fight. No, it was better to let them retreat and then figure out what the hell they were going to do about this after things had calmed down.  
With the flick of her hand, she made a new portal, and the rest of the Coyotes stepped through it once again; the dark-haired hybrid let her eyes lock with each, and every member of the serpents present before she closed the portal and then turned to Helio “what the fuck where you thinking” she hissed before she walked behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and started pouring herself a glass, she looked up at Isaac “I thought going to the school was supposed to make you know your abilities better if it makes you flare up more, I’m not sure if I’m spending my money right” she knew it was harsh. Still, right now, she wasn’t really in the mood to be the normally understanding and caring mother.

“Shut up, Blaise,” Linus said in unison with Anastasia; he groaned and watched how Francis went over and hugged the vampire that thought he had come too late to join the party. Then he turned his gaze to Landon, “let’s get back to the bar; then I would very much like to know how the hell this happened”, he hummed, not wanting to stand out here in the open discussing business—or getting to know how all of this had even happened in the first place. Maybe he just wasn’t in the mood, period.

"Oh come on, I was just getting to know them a little bit," Helio let out a sigh. It wasn't because he had any other intention than that. Pushing to see who his new rivals were, and sometimes you had to play a few foolish moves to make them have a somewhat picture of you. If they now thought of him as impulsive and foolish, great. Elijah shook his head a little bit, walking over to open a beer, sitting in silence while Isla gave Isaac a lesson. Ares walked out to the nearest bathroom to tend to his burn wound. Isaac looked at his mother and held his breath for a moment. "I'm trying - the guy just," he shook his head knowing it wasn't any excuse. "I'm sorry," Isaac let out a small sigh. Helio walked over to take the bottle from Isla, then pouring himself a glass of whisky as well, taking a sip. "Now I just need to find a way to get to Illusion Arena before they realize there is a safe hidden there that belongs to me. Everyone knows those two bastards will have no problem taking what's inside," he pulled out a bag of smokes, took one he lighted. "We will need to act fast then brother, it won't take them long before they realize you just pointed out that other club for a small distraction," Elijah hummed a little bit taking another sip of his beer.



"Yeah lets cop gahn*," Landon replied still standing so nicely by the car, not liking how things had ended up. Safe to say it would have ended on another note if Landon had dealt with them on his own, not because they would have come closer. Landon could defend his part of the city if he needed to, there was a reason why he was a fallen angel after all. "I will drink to that," Victoria sighed a little bit walking over to get inside the car her and Linus had arrived in, and Landon took his bike. Francis guided Blaise and Anastasia towards the car him and Scorpio had arrived in, and Scorpio skipped over to the driver's seat, not taking any chances on not getting to drive. So, once everyone was set Scorpio started to drive the car where Francis, Anastasia, Blaise and himself were seating in followed by Landon towards the serpent headquarter.

___
* get going

Isla waved her boy toward her with a soft smile forming on her lips. “Come here”, she mumbled, placing an arm around his shoulder and pulling him into a hug; now she didn’t care much for the fact that the boys in this gang seemed to feel like they needed to uphold a certain bravado; her boy still needed comfort, even if she was somewhat disappointed in him. Things took time, and she knew that he was trying his best. Hopefully, he would get his powers under control before someone got seriously hurt.  
“Should have known you guys were playing an angel in all of this”, she huffed, letting go of Isaac before she walked over and grabbed Helio’s jaw and turned his gaze toward her. “Just don’t get my boy mixed up in all of this, when it comes down to it, you’ll be a dead man if he gets hurt, you hear me?” she huffed before placing a kiss against his cheek and took the bottle to get another drink.
Mena walked after Ares and knocked on the door to the bathroom; “ want me to jhelp you with dat?” she asked him as she leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed in front of her chest.


Linus nodded and walked over before placing himself behind the wheel; it didn’t take long before the whole gang was driving back to the bar, where they could regroup and talk about what had happened. As he parked in the garage, he got out and looked over at Kennedy standing by one of the other cars parked “can you get her running?” the Asian woman locked up and narrowed her eyes. “Oh bugger off, are you serious? Of course, I can get her up and running, she’ll be purring like a kitten when I’m done” she laughed before looking at Landon, a giant smile formed over her lips “hi big guy! How have you been treating my baby?” she asked as she ran toward his bike and eyed it, making sure he hadn’t done something to wreck it once again.

Isaac let out a small sigh after the embrace from his mother, then heading out in the back towards the escape to the little house where he had his room. After all he had home work before the exams. Crazy times, mostly because he was distracted with almost every single thing lately.
Helio chuckled a little, yet he did take Isla's words serious. Because he knew if anything were to happen to Isaac while he was looking after him: he knew just who would be dead. Him. "Loud and clear," he let his eyes follow her getting the bottle to get herself another drink. "What would I do without you?" He chuckled a little bit taking another sip from his glass.
Ares cursed a little bit, knowing it would take some special means to heal how he wanted it to heal. Right of this moment he would just have to live with the burning print of Francis' fingers on his throat. "Not sure you can do much," he exhaled deeply, clearly annoyed with himself, before turning his head to the side looking at her.


Victoria stepped out of the car, smiling at Landon who leaned against his bike not wanting to be first or last to enter the club. Besides he liked chatting with Kennedy. Victoria skipped inside to get behind the bar with Anastasia to make a set of drinks flowing around, and prepping a good whisky for the state of strategy talk. Leaving Francis and Blaise to sit and catch up quickly.
Landon looked at Victoria then at Linus as they drove in, about to turn around and follow them inside when Kennedy talked to him, making him lift his eyebrows. "Yor baby? I wasn't aware that we shared custody on me gem 'ere," Landon chuckled a little bit still leaning against his bike, looking shortly at it as her eyes scanned it. "She is not so bad, okay, then, luv? Now, wot 'ave yer been up ter?"

“Fall in a ditch and die?” she hummed while keeping her eyes on the glass so she didn’t fill it up too much. When she was happy with the amount, she put the bottle down before turning and looking at Helio, tilting her head a little. “Might be a good time to gather the forces of those that will help you”, she decided to say; just because both brothers were extremely powerful didn’t mean they should underestimate the Phoenix brothers either; if anything, she doubted that they could do much against them, which was already saying something when it came from Isla. Now she would like to help, but like so many others, she didn’t understand why Helio was so hellbent on getting Southside back under his rule.
“That witch of yours would be my first bet, especially since they have a Sinclair on their side” she caught the bottom lip and pulled it backwards. Maybe she was being a pessimist, but she would rather make sure that Helio was on his toes than be too laid back and would end up dying because of this mistake.

Ximena sighed as she walked over and pointed at the toilet seat, gesturing that he should sit down so she could get a better look. She knew that one tear of hers would be able to heal him, but it also meant that she needed to cry, not something she often did, if at all. “I can at least make it jhurt less”, she tried to comfort him; as she pulled down the medical case, she found the remedies for burn wounds, not that it would take away the pain completely, but it could ease it.


Kennedy wiggled her brows; it would be so easy to forget the past and how she had been found back in the day, wandering around in old and torn clothes, looking like she had been to hell and back, which she would still argue that she had; not that she said it out loud.
“Of course we do; look at her; she has to be taken care of by at least two people,” she said joyfully as she bounced toward him and let an arm snake around his shoulder, pressing a soft kiss against his cheek. “You know, the usual, just keeping out of trouble” she winked and moved, so she was standing in front of him. “News on the street is that you aren’t keeping out of trouble as you should”, lifting a brow, a smirk formed over her lips.

“So, Anastasia, what do we owe the pleasure?” he asked as he walked in front of the bar and gave Victoria a thankful smile as she pushed a glass of whiskey in front of him; he quickly drowned it before he pushed it back toward her again.

Helio took a slightly sharper breath in, he had heard a few of his pals were in town or at least nearby. It could be a good time to see if Ares could reach Levi again, with those too being friends or whatever they were. But Isla mentioned his witch, well that would be a good call too. He had a few witches, but he knew just who Isla was talking about by that mention. "I will give her a call," he hummed a little bit, followed by a small chuckle. With that thought he picked up his phone and dialed Artemis' number, moving his phone towards his ear.

Ares sat down with a small sigh, "it's alright. It's not that bad," he lied, but a burn wound stung so badly and the flesh was damaged badly. Reasons why you should made sure the Phoenix brothers kept their hands to themselves - or why the Coyotes should learn not trying to touch every single little shinny thing they found. "Thank you," he mumbled followed by a smaller sigh. Appreciating the fact that she was helping him.


The kiss against his cheek made the fallen angel chuckle a little bit, taking a better look at her, then pulling a more boyish grin at the last comment. "Some blokes are just not meant ter stay out o' barney Rubble*. Even so, it were them fuckers who should 'ave kept on their side o' the boarder, right, I were just drivin' 'round wiv the bleedin' fellas," Landon told with a smaller shrug, always having a flair for being dramatic, but he also didn't care much about how he expressed himself. "Yer just wannan 'ang out 'ere, or wotcher in the mood for?" Landon wondered tilting his head just an inch to the side.

Victoria took his glass and refilled it once he pushed it towards her again, downing her own drink while looking at the vampires who had arrived. "I'm trying to get the siren club back up and running, I left it alone for a few years and it looks like Anthony ruined the flow there as well - so I guess you will have me as a hand in on the matter of helping this place restore its former glory," she then took a sip of her drink pointing towards her older brother. "Ahm stickin' around too, made uh deal with thuh now former owner uh The Temptation. Ah hope yawl don't mind uh liddel maeyhem" he teased a bit, knowing they didn't. Everyone knew the Temptation was known to connect various of criminal organizations and help getting a flow around all together.

Victoria pressed her brows a bit together, refilled her glass to take a sip. She knew what sort of place The Temptation was, after all she had worked there back in the day, and she didn't really knew what Blaise wanted with the place, to be fair she didn't even know the guy. Anastasia, she had seen her before in town but they had never really been speaking that much.
___
out of trouble*

Isla raised her brows with a smirk forming on her lips, then she poured herself another glass and leaned against the counter of the bar. Noticing how he quickly found a number and called the small little pretty witch. Word on the street was that Artemis was going back to school to teach, which Isla found rather funny, but who was she to judge whom Helio spent his time with? It seemed he had a thing for the damsel in distress, not that he ever stuck with any one of them, always finding someone new, or had the urge to find his comfort in another woman's bed. Or at least it had seemed that way for the hybrid while she had been together with him.
Artemis quickly picked up the phone, not that she had seen who it was. “Hello, this is Artemis?” her voice sounded tired, and the witch would lie if she said that she was anything but that. The pregnancy was starting to take a toll on her body and mind, and she knew that it was now too late to get an abortion. Maybe the constant putting it off had been because she had so desperately wanted it when she had found out. But when she figured that Bentley had just played with her until he found something else, well, a part of her had wanted to get rid of it just out of pure spite, it was a tricky situation to be in, and it also kept her rather paranoid because of her mother.
“Oh, Helio, hi, what can I do for you?” her voice was relatively dry, not in the way that she was thirsty, but she didn’t really understand why he was calling her now of all dies. Or maybe it was just past events that were making her somewhat cynical.

Ximena gave him a sombre smile, letting out a soft breath of air. It felt rather heavy all of this, and she already knew that she needed to get away, maybe see if she could find Tamotsu or Hatsu for that matter; both needed to know about this, that was for sure, and she didn’t think that Helio would think that far right now at least. She lifted his chin so she could get a better look, and then she applied a cold press against the neck. “Dis is going to leabe a nasty scar” as always; her r’s rolled off her tongue as she leaned a little close and gave him a soft kiss against his cheek. “To make you feel better”, then she moved her lips and let them gently caress his “ant dat was to make you dink of something else”, she giggled, giving him a caring smile.


She lifted her brows, wiggling them when he told her about what had happened; “Of course, you weren’t at fault, always the other people, right” she jumped away, giving him a few jabs against his arm before she stopped and licked her lips. “Nah, you deserve a cold beer, and I wouldn’t say no to one as well; let’s join the others!” she giggled, taking his hand and dragging him with her into the bar area, where she nodded to the others before she let go of his hand again to bounce over and sit down beside Linus, that earned her a small smile, before he turned and looked at Anastasia then at Blaise as they both talked about what they were doing, sounded interesting, and like they were all securing Southside to be theirs. “Sounds like fun, and we should start doing business together immediately”, he hummed, looking toward his brother to see what he felt with all of this, besides he was also very curious about how it had gone with Juniper, but that was a question he could ask later.  

"Hello luv," he hummed a little bit with his warm voice, even if hers sounded more tired, knowing she would recognize his voice. Now what could she do for him, it was a while since they had last seen one another after all. "I thought I could perhaps be interested in one of your brilliant deals, I'm having some bird problem I need to get taken care of. And who is better at keeping the birds away than you," he chuckled a little bit low and took a sip of his drink.

Ares let out a small sigh. "I will get it healed up," he mumbled a little bit. A little bit of death force when he had rested and he would be able to make the wound go somewhat away. It just caused the life or life force of someone else. Even so, he didn't mind the kiss on his cheek, he specially didn't mind the short kiss that traced his lips. "It almost worked, how about trying it again," he whispered then letting his lips brush over hers again.


Landon let her drag him out to the bar, and got handed a cold beer as he sat down. Taking a sip of it while listening to what went on around him. Francis let out a small chuckle, liking the idea - if he hadn't been completely exhausted after what his head had been though today he would have showed more energy. "I'm looking forward to see what glorious things we will built here," he however hummed getting eye contact with his brother before looking at Blaise and Anastasia. With those two vampires on their side, they already was one better step in keeping Southside how they wanted. "Indeed we should," Blaise chuckled a little bit, then raising his glass, "cheers." The others lifted their glasses and took a sip of it. Victoria downed her drink and placed the glass on the table, now what a day this had been.

Birds. Her mind started to flash to the event where wild ostriches had almost run over her. For a moment, she forgot to listen, and it had been so tempting to let a ‘what’ escape her lips, but instead, she gathered her mind, tried to trace back and see if she could figure out what Helio wanted.
“Uh-hu”, she hummed, true she knew a thing or two of keeping annoying things away from her, but she got the feeling that it wasn’t particularly birds he was talking about; it was something more than just that, “So, I’m guessing you would like me to come over, and talk about said problem? And could you please not say birds, freaks me out” she decided to be honest, even though it was very few that actually knew about her phobia when it came to animals. With her emotions all messed up, it had only become much harder to hide when feeling uncomfortable.

She chuckled, feeling giddy when he told her that he needed to try another time to see if it actually worked. Now, Mena knew it was dangerous walking around kissing everyone without ever really committing, but she couldn’t really help it–she liked the attention and the mystery that formed around her when no one knew where they had her.  
So, she leaned a little closer, letting her lips catch his in a far more intimate manner than they had done before.


”hear hear!” Kennedy laughed as she raised her bottle in the air so that they could cheer on the newly formed partnership.
Linus shook his head and chuckled, then he got up from his seat and placed a hand on Blaise’s shoulder, a small gesture before he turned to his brother and, without any words, told him that he should follow, he could see that his brother needed rest, but he also needed to know what the hell was going to happen now, what his brother wanted to do from here on out.
Kennedy lifted her brows as she saw the two brothers leave, “what was that about?” she wanted to know, curious as always.

Helio exhaled a little, "yeah - maybe tomorrow or so?" He needed to reflect on the events here. He was surprised how things had changed within the Serpents, who were a part of it now, he had assumed there would have been some more rocky roads with the new leadership and the former members, perhaps much like when Anthony had taken over. But their hadn't been. People like Victoria and Landon were standing by these two new kings of the south and Helio didn't like it. He had once been so close trying to convince Victoria to join the Coyotes - or at least he liked to think he had been close to convincing her. Perhaps he should circle her out and try in a more private setting.  "Can you meet me here tomorrow around the afternoon?"
Elijah walked by to the sight from the bathroom of Mena and Ares lip locking. "Get a room you two, or at least close the door," he teased a bit then shaking his head and walked up to the bar.


Francis got up and left with his brother, after all he needed to tell him what in his head was good news about Juniper. Because the choice he had made would have some affect on Linus, not bit ones but some, it had to didn't it? Victoria looked at the brothers leaving, not hearing Kennedy's question before Landon rolled his eyes, "For the bloody luv o' god, right, Vic, back ter reality please" he snapped his fingers in front of her to make her redirect her eyes back to Kennedy. "Oh, yeah - sorry - it's just been a long day, with a serious of events. But everything is all good, I hope," after all she had no idea how the meeting with Juniper had went, yet at least. Landon just made a small movement with his eyebrows, not believing it was the entire story - but well. Then pouring up a few more drinks, and got the crowd talking for a few more hours before break was over.

Artemis let her fingers brush over her eyebrows and looked down at the papers she was grading—even though teaching wasn’t her first choice of what she would do as a part-time job, she had found some sort of comfort in starting again. Maybe it also helped her get more grounded after she had realised the situation she had put herself in.
“Tomorrow afternoon”, she agreed before letting out a small sigh and hanging up. What a mess, but if anything, she could at least hear him out and then she could take it from there.
Ximena didn’t turn away from the kiss, but she still managed to angle her hand, so she presented him with her middle finger. She could easily have told him something along the lines of you’re just jealous that you can’t get anything yourself. But she didn’t. Instead, she crawled onto Ares's lap and let the kiss deepen.


Kennedy blinked a little, not really getting anything out of Victoria even if Landon had just managed to pull her back from wherever she had just retreated to. “Maybe you should just jump in each other's bed and get it over with”, Kennedy pointed out and raised the bottle to her lips. “Just don’t get too attached; word on the street is that he doesn’t do serious relationships”, Kennedy hummed, and she would know being one herself. Not that she didn’t want to, but the person she had always had a good eye on seemed to be one of the few who didn’t look her way. Infuriating, really, but what could you do.

Victoria let out a small snort by Kennedy's first comment, then clicking her tongue a little bit looking at her fellow shapeshifter. Anastasia and Blaise didn't say much, even if they perhaps knew more than what they wanted to share. Yet not even they knew everything. It wasn't because she knew if she was going to do anything about it, a huge part of her wanted to. Back in the day she hadn't minded it, one unserious thing to another, then of course in between Sol had pulled her into a whole different direction, a direction she had search to find something like ever since. Her and Rafael hadn't worked out, and Victoria was jealous by nature or possessive some would say - not extremely, but just enough to make it noticeable. Victoria then downed a couple of shots, "Right" she let out a smaller sigh. "Maybe its time for us to get going," Anastasia looked at her brother, and Blaise nodded then downing one quick drink, "see ya fellas around." He announced before him and his sister walked out again.

Landon then looked towards Victoria, "Anyfink else underneath the clouds yer think yer would like ter share wiv the bloody group, isit?" he kept his eyes on her. "Wot yer think 'elio is up ter?" He wondered. Now they had been toe to toe with The Coyotes for ages, but Victoria was the only one of them who had gotten close enough to pick the mind of the leader, even if he didn't like just how close she had gotten - but it had been some weird years for all. "Honestly, I have no idea, but I don't like this. Their powers are getting stronger than I thought, one slip up into one of our minds and Ares might be able to live on in our heads for as long as he likes, torment us from within - I will be able to pick up on the frequencies of it, might be enough to protect us against it. And of course the deals the guys have set up but, something tells me Helio has a few good witches on his side as well."

Kennedy saluted both Blaise and Anastasia as they decided to get moving; “see you around, don’t be a stranger, Ana”, Kennedy hummed before winking at the beautiful vampire, then she turned and looked at Landon and Victoria.
“Smooth, just ruin my gossip moment”, Kennedy mumbled when Landon managed to change the topic of the conversation, even though she didn’t try to dig deeper into the mess that was surrounding Victoria and Linus, maybe it was for the better—one shouldn’t be involved with your fellow Serpents, it would only end badly, even though she still didn’t believe it would work out for Eric and Noa or Cyrus and Delphine for that matter. There was just something about finding a person that was so much an outsider that could be nice for a while, like breaking free from the person you were—they all did it from time to time. But in the end, you had to choose—Serpent life or the life where you left this family behind.  
“Of course, he has, and his brother is probably cooking something real stupid up, mark my words, we are facing down the barrel of the gun” with that, she meant that a gang war was coming, and she didn’t like it one bit, because that would involve everyone in the Southside, which also meant that innocent lives would be lost, which was something she didn’t enjoy at all.

Landon moved his eyes towards Kennedy shortly, "we 'ave all us lives ter gossip     ," he pointed out. He hated this, the attacks even if he knew it would be foolish to assume that just because that Anthony had been taken down, that new threats wouldn't show - because they did. In a number he didn't like.  Victoria exhaled a little bit and nodded, "Elijah is the worst - I think I could convince Helio of a new deal if I got him one on one, but I haven't spoken directly to him in years - so it's a bit maybe, but I'm not the one calling the shots anymore," she poured herself another drink, even if she could come up with some ideas and pitch them. She had to remember her place, and not do something just simply because she had a hunch. "If yer go anywhere near that bastard I'm gonna 'ave Eric move yer ter Australia or sumfink, just so yer 'ave a good sweet time ter reflect on yor actions as yer come back 'ere," Landon pointed out lifting his finger at Victoria, not really wanting her to come close to Helio again. "Alright then, point taken - I think I will go now, could use some sleep after everything that has happened today," she confessed, after all she had started the day out helping Francis with a whole lot of memories, of course she was tired. She had just been using her ability to keep her head going not slowing down, so she wouldn't collapse or the like, but truth was she knew she needed sleep.

Kennedy blinked a little at what Victoria said; she had to be kidding—but just as she parted her lips to tell her that it might be the stupidest idea she had heard in a long time, Landon beat her to it. “I second that” she pointed toward the fallen angel by her side, lifting her brow, then nodding when Victoria said she would go and get some sleep. Kennedy waved as she followed her fellow shapeshifter with her eyes. Then she turned and looked at Landon “my god, what a day”, she mumbled, with a swift movement; she propelled herself over the bar and found two glasses and started pouring Landon and her a few fingers' worths of whiskey. “Here you go, my friend” she clinked her glass against his before placing hers against her lips and tipping it so the entire contain was swallowed in one sitting. “Oh, that burns”, she mumbled before she started filling the glass another time.
Maybe it was a bad idea to start this early, but if anything, she could keep her liquor. Wasn’t it the Chinese that had invented the drunk Kung Fu or something in that sense? At least it dulled ever aching pain in her chest that she never shared with anyone.

Landon waved Victoria goodbye, not really knowing all of what she had been up to today, but if rest was needed he wasn't going to keep her here more than she had to. So, instead he turned his head to Kennedy, Scorpio more or less minded himself and thereby went unnoticed by the others and hadn't cared much for people taking off, he just sat in the corner texting with Imogen, then got up and just waved at Kennedy and Landon before heading up like he was going to meet up with someone. "I'll put me brass* on 'e is meetin' up wiv Imogen," Landon grabbed his drink and clinked his glass against hers, doing much like her and downed the drink in one sitting, squeezed his face together by the burn down his throat.
___

Kennedy laughed when Landon made a comment about it being Imogen that he was meeting; for a moment, her gaze glanced over, and the smile faded—one of those rare moments where Kennedy wasn’t in complete control of how she seemed, even though she was relatively easy to read, she made sure that people only read what was allowed. The darkness that was usually for her alone. It quickly disappeared, however, before she turned and gave Landon a big smile; “So, what is up with you? It seems like forever since we had a proper chance to sit down and talk, everything all right, something new? Any ladies you wanna gush about?” she wiggled her brows feeling how her lips might even pull into an even wider grin.
Waiting for his answer, she started pouring them another glass of whiskey. It was funny; she had always thought how easier it would be if she had just fallen for Landon, but then again—had she done that, he, too, would probably be unavailable to her. It was like with everything that she was lucky with, she never really found that person that wanted her, at least not those that she had fallen for.